The White House
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. From the "House Call" series. No matter how many times she explained it, Daryl just didn't get it. It all sounded kind of pointless to him but he knew he would suffer through it tonight. It was something Beth wanted to do – and everyone knew who really ran their house.
1. Dinner

**I was driving to work this morning and I have been having all of these random ideas for the _House Call_ universe so I began writing this first chapter and it just flew out of me and I have already begun the second. The last thing I need is another story to work on and I tried so hard to get my brain to shut up so I wouldn't become overwhelmed but I really wanted to write this one. I really love imagining the ways in which Daryl and Beth have both evolved in their relationship. **

**PS - I have played around with the kids' ages a little. Luke is ****twelve, Hunter is seven and Abby is three. **

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…

**Chapter One.** Dinner Party.

"Daryl Dixon, if you eat even one thing from off that table right now, I'm going to ban you from eating anything at all tonight!" Beth called out to him from the kitchen as if she had been able to see his hands going for one of pigs in a blanket.

Daryl grumbled something under his breath and slowly pulled his hand back even though there was no way she would be able to see him taking anything but knowing Beth, she had counted everything on this table and would know if a single piece of anything was missing.

"Ya' know, I've been workin' all day with nothin' to eat except a sandwich five hours ago," he said, coming into the kitchen where Beth stood at the island in the middle of the room, three-year-old Abby standing on a stool beside her, both of them wearing aprons and their matching blonde hair coming loose from their ponytails.

"Daddy!" Abby exclaimed and held out a deviled egg in the palm of her small hand.

"You sure your drill sergeant's a'right with you givin' me that?" Daryl asked with a small smirk, glancing over to Beth.

Beth just looked at him. "I'm having a moment of kindness so you better take it while you can," she said and he smirked a little wider, grabbing the egg up and popping it into his mouth before leaning down and giving a kiss on Abby's cheek, the little girl giggling.

"Best damn egg I've ever had," he said once he had chewed and swallowed.

"No use in buttering me up," Beth said, continuing to stir the cobb salad in the bowl she was working on. "There is no way you're getting out of this tonight."

He sighed heavily and went to the sink, grabbing one of the glasses drying in the rack on the counter and then filling it with water from the tap. He didn't ask her why they were doing this tonight. She would just go into another long speech about how this is what people did. They had their friends over so they could all spend time together in a fun setting and eat good food. No matter how many times she explained it, Daryl just didn't get it. It all sounded kind of pointless to him but he knew he would suffer through it tonight. Not only because it was something Beth wanted to do – and everyone knew who really ran their house – but because Beth was an amazing cook and his stomach was already grumbling for all of the food she had spent that day preparing.

He knew he wasn't going to enjoy tonight. She might have invited their family and friends but he saw them enough and even if he generally liked them, that didn't mean he wanted to spend all of his extra time with them. He liked it being just him and their family in their house without others around. He had a couple of orders from people and if this stupid dinner party thing wasn't happening tonight, he would happily spend his evening in his woodshop in the backyard, working until Beth came to get him long after the sun set.

That was his idea of a perfect night. Quiet and solitude.

And then, as if she could read his thoughts, Beth turned towards the sink and stood beside him as she washed her hands. "I promise that this will be the first and last one of these we do for a very long time. It's too much work and I'm exhausted," she said. "I've just always wanted to throw a dinner party and now we have a house where I can."

Daryl shrugged, taking a chug of water, draining the glass. "'s fine," he said and she gave him a small smile. "Just know that tomorrow mornin', I'm goin' into the woods and I'm not comin' out for the rest of the weekend."

She laughed at that and nodded her head and he smiled a little.

She turned back to the island counter, pulling at the strings of her apron. "Well, Ms. Abigail, I do believe we're finished." She lifted the toddler up from the stool and set her down on the floor, untying her apron, too. "Thank you for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without you," she said and Abby beamed at that. "Can you please go and find your brothers for me?" She then asked and Abby nodded eagerly for her new task before turning and running from the kitchen.

Beth began putting the trays of food away into the refrigerator, having cleared out the extra space for everything, until people started arriving within the next half hour. And just before she closed the door, she took a deviled egg for herself.

Daryl watched her and found himself smirking.

"What?" She asked, her hand going to the corners of her mouth to see if she had something sticking there.

He just shook his head though and slipped his glass into the dishwasher. "Can't believe a Dixon is not only goin' to some dinner party but is the one throwin' it."

She smiled at that, almost laughing. "You have become a very respectable man," she said.

"That's the most terrifyin' thing I've ever heard," he said, smirking still just a little, and this time, Beth did let out a laugh.

…

Beth had told them that they didn't have to dress up, knowing that would have just erupted into a fight and she had learned when to pick her battles. As long as what they wore was _clean_ – she couldn't emphasize that word enough – she didn't care what they wore. Except no pajamas. No pajamas, even clean ones, could be worn and she said this directly to Hunter because right now, he was going through a phase where he wanted to wear his pajama shirts everywhere.

Daryl was clomping down the stairs, buttoning up his flannel shirt, when the doorbell rang and he went to answer it, seeing the Grimes' family through the glass of the front door.

"Sorry about this," was the first thing Rick said.

"For what?" Daryl stepped aside so they could enter the front foyer.

"Hi!" Beth came down the stairs wearing a green dress and a bright smile.

"We're sorry, Beth," Lori was the one to say now. "We had to bring the kids with us."

"Oh, that's no problem," Beth shook her head, her smile never faltering. "Luke's going to have a friend over, too, and they're all just going to be playing in the study and I've made more than enough food for everyone."

"I'm not going to play in the study," Carl was frowning. Scowling was more like it. "I'm fifteen-years-old."

Rick grasped the back of his neck. "Then act like it and thank Mrs. Dixon for feeding you."

Carl sighed heavily. "Thank you, Beth."

"Take your sister and go find the other kids," Lori said and Carl grumbled something under his breath but stopped when Rick cut a fierce look towards him. He then tugged on Judith's sleeve and tugged her down the hallway.

"What the hell was that all about?" Daryl asked.

Lori sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Rick came home early from work today and caught Carl and Lizzie in his bedroom."

Beth couldn't help but gasp. "Already?" She asked in a whisper, mildly horrified.

"They still had their clothes on but it was definitely heading in that direction," Rick said.

"It will be a very long time before he's allowed home by himself," Lori said. "But anyway," she shook her head and then exhaled a deep breath, bringing a smile to herself. "I know you said you had plenty of food but I brought this." She held up a dish covered in tinfoil.

"Lori, I told you that you did not have to bring anything," Beth said and as the two women headed into the living room, Rick and Daryl remaining in the front foyer, Daryl finally closing the door behind them.

"Don't tell Lori but I was fifteen," Rick said in a low voice.

"Merle was thirteen," Daryl said with a slight smirk. "Want somethin' to drink?"

"God, yes," Rick nodded and followed him down the hall to the kitchen but instead of staying there, Daryl led them down into the basement where he was keeping a wood crate stored in one of the corners. "I am an officer of the law," Rick reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah," Daryl smirked and handed him a mason jar with clear liquid swishing around inside. "I'm just not gonna tell you where Merle got the stuff."

Rick took a swig of the moonshine, his face instantly screwing into one of disgusting. "I hate this stuff," he said but only before he took another swig. He then held out the jar for Daryl.

"Nah, I'm good," Daryl shook his head. "Beth'll murder me if I get shitfaced during our dinner party," he said the last two words as if they left a bitter taste on his tongue and Rick grinned before taking another swig of the moonshine.

"Smart man," Rick nodded. "Mind if I come down here for more later on?" He asked.

Daryl just looked at him, a hint of amusement across his face. He wondered how Beth would rate their dinner party if they had a guest pass out in the basement.

…

Carl scowled as he sat in a beanbag chair in the corner of the first floor study and drank the can of Ginger Ale that he had gotten from the kitchen. Besides his sister and the three Dixon kids, Luke's best friend, Molly Hambel, was over, too, and she was in the middle of braiding Judith's hair, who just looked absolutely delighted. Abby was having a tea party with her stuffed animals, Luke was in the middle of constructing a castle out of his pile of Legos and Hunter was driving his remote-controlled car around the room, threatening to crash into the Lego castle and laughing every time Luke glared at him.

This sucked. Really sucked. He didn't deserve this punishment. He and Lizzie hadn't done anything. Just making out and she had let him slip his hand up her shirt. He was _fifteen_. What did his parents expect from him? He had been seriously dating Lizzie for a few months. What did his parents think? Of course he was going to try things with his girlfriend. And just because they didn't like that, he shouldn't be forced to be here and if he did have to be here, he shouldn't be forced to be stuck in this room with all of these little kids. He should at least be able to be out there with the rest of the adults, their voices being heard murmuring through the doors.

The car suddenly slammed into his foot and Hunter was laughing. "What's the matter with you?" The kid asked.

Carl didn't answer and just continued to glare. And not for the first time, he wished Daryl Dixon was his dad. Daryl would understand and would never give him a bullshit punishment like this. Beth, maybe, but not Daryl.

And as if he knew Carl was thinking of him, Daryl slid open the doors. "Come get somethin' to eat," he told them and all of the kids went running out of the room.

Carl stood up much slower and Daryl smirked a little as he trudged towards the doors.

"'s not the end of the world," Daryl told him.

"Easy for you to say," Carl frowned. "You're not being forced to be here."

Daryl smirked at that, letting out a breath of laughter. "Are you kiddin'?"

Carl didn't say anything and followed him across the hall into the living room where the rest of the guests were milling in that room and in the dining room, all getting plates and loading them up with the trays upon trays of food that Beth had set out for everyone.

He saw his parents – his dad swaying slightly as he stood in the corner, talking with Beth's dad and mom, Hershel and Annette, about something, and his mom was talking with Carol. Probably saying how much she just loved Carol's daughter, Sophia. It was no secret to Carl that his mom disliked Lizzie, claiming something just didn't seem right with her, and she would have loved it if Carl was dating Sophia instead. They were all in the same grade and he had known Sophia since forever. They were friends. But Sophia, to him, was like what Judith was. His sister.

He went around the dining room table , filling his plate up and ignoring the boring talks of the adults around him. Weather and crops and businesses and the election of the new state governor and maybe he didn't want to be out here with them. But he didn't want to be with the kids locked away in the study either. He just wanted to be home.

Once he made sure he had enough food, he went through the kitchen rather than the living room again and found Beth and Daryl in there, Beth pulling a tray of biscuits from the oven and Daryl closing the door for her. They hadn't noticed him and Carl watched as Daryl kissed the corner of Beth's jaw and he saw the way Beth smile faintly and turn into him and Carl knew Daryl never would do that if he knew they weren't alone.

They were still so confusing to him as a couple. They had been together for a while now, had a few kids, had this house, and yet, Beth standing there in her dress with her pretty blonde hair and pale skin and Daryl there in his jeans and flannel shirt with his dark hair getting long and unkempt, they just didn't seem to match.

He had had the biggest crush on Beth for years and being married to Beth was just another reason why Carl wished he could be Daryl. That crush had faded over the years but it was still there a little bit, a dull thud at the base of his heart. Beth was so pretty and Daryl was so cool and they just seemed so much better than his own parents. Maybe they did make sense as a couple in that way. The coolest guy always seemed to get the prettiest girl.

"Hi, Carl," Beth smiled brightly, seeing him. "Would you like a biscuit?" She asked as Daryl was already taking one for himself, tossing it from hand to hand as it was still a bit hot.

Carl nodded and without a word, he held out his plate. Beth dropped one down with a smile. "Thanks," he then said. "And thanks for having me."

"You're always welcome here," Beth said. "Not just when you're being punished."

"It's bullshit," Carl then said before he could stop himself.

Beth gave him a small frown. "You can't disrespect your parents like that, Carl. It's very hard to earn trust back once you've lost it."

"Weren't you two sneaking around for a year before you told anyone?" Carl asked.

"That was different," Daryl spoke up and Carl was surprised he said anything. "We were adults. You ain't."

Carl sighed heavily but said nothing to that. Maybe Daryl wasn't as cool as he thought.

…

No one was paying attention to her as she slowly pushed open one of the doors just enough for her to slip through and leave the study. She had eaten everything on the small plate her mama had put together but she wanted more and no one in the other room was paying any attention to her.

She walked into the living room where all of the adults were and though she recognized most of them, she didn't know them. But then she spotted her Aunt Maggie and she went to her, reaching up and tugging on the hem of her skirt.

Maggie's head instantly whipped down and her eyes widened slightly in surprise when she saw her. "And what are you doing out here, Ms. Abigail?" Maggie asked. She handed her cup to Theresa Martinez, who she had been talking with, and then bent down, scooping the little girl up in her arms.

"Egg," Abby said, playing with the necklace Maggie was wearing around her neck.

"Egg?" Maggie frowned a little. "Alright, honey. Let's go get you an egg." She began heading towards the kitchen, her eyes on the lookout for her sister or brother-in-law. She found Daryl first, standing with Caesar and Glenn and listening as the two men were talking. But then his eyes turned when he saw her approaching and he immediately reached out, taking his daughter from her arms into his. "She said she wants an egg," Maggie told him.

Daryl nodded and looked to Abby. "Egg?" He then asked her as if to make sure.

Abby smiled and nodded her head vigorously. "Egg."

Daryl smiled a little and carried Abby towards the kitchen and Maggie couldn't help but trail behind. Daryl went to the refrigerator and reached into one of the bins.

"Saw we were about to run out and I snagged one for you," Daryl said and Abby burst into the biggest smile when he handed the girl a deviled egg.

"Thank you, daddy," she said though it sounded more like "Fank you" and she then kissed him on his cheek. Daryl smiled and kissed her on the head before turning and setting her down so she was sitting on the counter. He leaned against the counter next to her.

He saw Maggie standing there, watching them, and she smiled a little.

"Does she always mean deviled egg?" Maggie asked.

"Nah," Daryl shook his head. "When she says that, she could mean anythin' really. Don't know that many other words yet. I just knew this time, she actually meant egg."

Maggie laughed a little and shook her head as if amazed.

…

Beth woke up to coldness. She slowly pried her eyes open and saw the time on the alarm clock. It wasn't even six o'clock in the morning yet and it took a moment for her tired brain to step a bit more out of its sleep-induced foggy haze. She was alone in bed and she rolled over to look at the empty spot where Daryl usually was.

She lifted her eyes when the bathroom door opened and Daryl stepped out, fully dressed. He saw she was awake and he grabbed his boots, coming around to her side of the bed and sitting down next to her so he could tug them on.

"Goin' huntin'," he said in a quiet voice and she nodded. "Want anythin' special?"

Beth shook her head. She felt her eyes sliding shut again. "You'll be back tomorrow?"

"Yeah." He finished tying his boots and then leaned in, kissing her on the head.

But as he began to rise from the bed, she grabbed his arm, stopping him. She blinked her eyes open to look at him. "Was the dinner party alright?" She then asked.

He looked at her for a moment and then smirked, leaning in to kiss her head again. "Best damn dinner party I ever been to."

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	2. Milf

**I know it doesn't look like it right now but I do have a general story planned out but like the others in the series, it's not exactly linear.**

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**Chapter Two. **Milf.

When Dale called out in the garage for Daryl that he had a phone call and it was the school, Daryl just assumed that it was a call about Hunter because calls like this were always about Hunter. The kid had been getting better but sometimes, he still got into trouble and Daryl and Beth still had to go to the school to talk to the teacher occasionally. A couple of them had mentioned Ritalin but Daryl wasn't looking to medicate his seven-year-old just because he was a kid and was hyper sometimes and Beth was in agreement with him on that.

So, when he took the call in the office, and it was the principal from the middle school, he nearly dropped the phone.

"'m sorry," Daryl shook his head slightly. "What are you sayin' that Luke did?" He listened for a moment but none of the words were really registering. "Did you call my wife?"

After he hung up the phone, he stared down at it as if completely perplexed and he scratched the back of his head. He looked to Dale who was sitting behind his desk, sipping a cup of coffee and not even hiding the fact that he was trying to eavesdrop.

"Uh, I gotta go," Daryl said, still confused. "Luke… he got in trouble and I gotta pick him up."

"Luke?" Dale raised his eyebrows at that.

"Yeah…" Daryl had absolutely no idea what was going on. "Can I call Beth?" He asked and Dale nodded, waving his hand to the phone again. Daryl called the number for the daycare center and after two rings, Lori Grimes picked up.

"Over the Rainbow Day Care," Lori answered.

"Hey, Lori, Beth there?" Daryl asked.

"Hold on." He could then hear Lori calling for Beth off somewhere in the distance. There was rustling and then a moment later, Beth spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Daryl," she greeted and he heard the smile in her voice. "What's up?"

It was obvious that the school hadn't called her and Daryl cleared his throat.

"Hey. School just called me here at the garage," he said.

She sighed softly. "What did Hunter do now?" She asked.

"It ain't Hunter this time," he said.

Beth fell silent on the other side of the phone and he could just imagine her look of confusion. Her lips pulled down in a slight frown, her brow furrowed because none of it made sense. Luke was their good kid. Always had been. Had always been quiet and a bit shy and always listened to him and Beth and the teachers at school and any adult in his life really. He made his bed in the mornings and helped with the dishes and took out the trash because those were his chores and he never raised a fuss about it. Luke had never given them any trouble – even when the first few years of his life had been spent being starved and beaten by the two people who had claimed to be his real parents first and who could have blamed him if he had been difficult? But not Luke. Never Luke.

"Um… okay," Beth said. "Yeah…"

He almost wanted to smirk because it was a rare situation where Beth didn't know what to say and it would have been amusing if it was any other situation except this one because this situation was just so damn confusing.

"I'm gonna leave the garage and I'll come pick you up, okay?" He took the lead.

"Okay," she said and he could already hear the worry lacing her tone, her mind probably racing with the possibilities of what Luke could have done to actually get him in trouble and he was trying to think of what it could be, too, but none of the usual things Hunter got himself in trouble for really fit with Luke and nothing Daryl thought of made any sense.

When he stopped the car in front of the daycare center, Beth was waiting just inside and she came out, Abby toddling beside her, holding her hand. It was almost the end of the day and once they picked Luke up, they would want to go straight home. Daryl got out and lifted Abby up, placing her into her car seat in the back as Beth slipped into the front passenger seat. The drive to the town's middle school was quiet between them.

Luke was sitting in the front office in one of the hard plastic chairs that lined the wall and when he lifted his head, Beth gasped sharply. His bottom lip was split and swollen and she rushed towards him, sitting down beside him.

"Luke, what happened?" She asked as her hands gently cradled his head.

Luke pulled his head away though, frowning as he looked down to the off-orange carpet.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dixon," the principal stepped from her office and then stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter her office.

Daryl dropped Abby down into the chair beside Luke. "Watch your sister," he ordered gruffly and then followed Beth into the office, the door closing behind them.

"As you can see, Luke was in a fight," the principal dove right into it as soon as she was seated behind her desk and Daryl and Beth were sitting in chairs across from her. "But, oddly enough, Luke was the one to _start_ it."

Daryl's brow furrowed at that. He looked to Beth and she was looking just as confused.

The ride home was silent because still, neither Daryl or Beth knew what to say, and Luke certainly wasn't talking. Instead, he sat in the back, staring out the window at the familiar passing scenery and when Daryl pulled up the long dirt drive of the white house, he got out the second the truck was stopped and with his bookbag, he headed up into his tree house.

Daryl heard the squeal of brakes and turning his head, he saw the school bus stop at the end of the dirt drive and Hunter hop off. The boy had been so excited that their house was now on a bus route and he was able to ride the bus every day to elementary school. He came running up the lane as quickly as he could, grinning when he saw his parents there. Beth was unbuckling Abby from her car seat and she set the girl down on her feet and Daryl locked the doors of the truck.

"Check it out!" Hunter pulled something from his pocket and proudly held it up for his parents to see. A fruit roll-up. "Mrs. Cosgrove gave it to me because I was quiet all day and didn't interrupt once."

Finally, Beth was able to say something as they headed up the steps of the front porch to the front door. "Hunter, you shouldn't have to be bribed into being good," she said.

"Mrs. Cosgrove says that she'll have something for me next Friday if I can be good for a whole week!" Hunter excitedly said as if Beth hadn't said anything.

"I'd like to see you be good for a whole week," Daryl said, smirking a little once they were inside and he knelt down, helping Abby out of her shoes.

"I can do it!" Hunter exclaimed with confidence. "Do you think she'll give me an X-Box?"

And despite herself, Beth smiled a little. "You never know. Now, go put your things upstairs in your room," she said and watched as Hunter turned and hurried up the stairs. "And don't eat that fruit roll-up before dinner!" She called up after him. Daryl stood up and Abby went hurrying into the study, heading for her dollhouse. "What should we do?" Beth asked him.

Daryl shrugged because he had absolutely no idea. If it had been Hunter, he wouldn't feel so clueless. They always had punishments ready for Hunter even though they were never quite sure what the boy was going to do but all of this with Luke felt like uncharted territories because not only had he gotten into a fight but he had been the one to start it and none of this was making sense. Daryl knew there had to be a damn good reason as to why Luke had reacted like that but even though Daryl had nothing to do with making him years earlier, Luke had grown into just like him as if he had been a Dixon the day he was born. And maybe he had been. He wasn't going to talk and couldn't be forced to.

Beth let Hunter pick what he wanted for dinner since he got a good report from his teacher and to no surprise, he picked macaroni and cheese. They sat at the table and Luke didn't say anything as he ate, Daryl and Beth watching as he carefully put his fork into his mouth, maneuvering around his split lip and they knew it wasn't the first one he had ever had.

"It's so cool," Hunter was grinning, leaning in closer next to him to get a better look.

"It ain't, Hunter," Daryl was the one to frown at him.

"Are you grounded?" Hunter asked him.

Luke just shrugged and didn't say anything. He was silent for the entire meal. And once they were finished, he carried his plate to the sink as he always did but when Beth tried to reach out and touch the back of his head, he quickly moved away before she could. She frowned and a look of hurt flashed in her eyes quickly before she masked it but Daryl had been able to see it.

"I'm goin' huntin' tomorrow," Daryl said having come to a decision. Beth nodded as she began loading the dishes into the dishwasher. "I'm takin' Luke with me. Maybe I can get him to talk out in the woods."

"Sounds good," Beth said and did her best to give him a small smile.

…

Fully dressed, Daryl went into Luke's bedroom the next morning at five.

"Hey," Daryl spoke quietly, shaking him lightly on the arm. Luke's eyes almost seemed to immediately snap open. "Goin' huntin'. Wanna come?" He asked even though it wasn't really an option and Luke seemed to know that.

He nodded and sat up, letting out a yawn.

Daryl left without a word so the boy could get dressed and he headed down the stairs. In the kitchen, he brewed a pot of coffee and slipped two pieces of bread into the toaster. Luke came in a few minutes later, wearing jeans and his bright orange hunting sweatshirt. He sat down at the table, setting his own crossbow down, and began tugging on his boots. The toast finished and Daryl put those two slices down in front of Luke before making his own.

Beth was just coming down the stairs as they were about to leave. She stopped on the bottom step and without a word, Daryl leaned in and gave her a kiss before heading out the door with Luke behind him, not saying goodbye to Beth. Daryl immediately noted it but he didn't say anything about it as they trudged across the field beside their house and stepped into the woods. Their steps immediately quieted and Daryl's eyes were sharp, studying the ground beneath them, seeing what he could pick up on.

He easily picked up the trail of a deer though he necessarily didn't even want it. They didn't have a need for it at the moment – having plenty of meat stored – and Daryl had bigger things to see to this morning. They walked for a few minutes in silence before Daryl stopped and pretended to study the ground again.

"Wanna tell me what happened yesterday?" Daryl asked, looking back to him.

"Not really," Luke shook his head – his first words in over twelve hours – and Daryl had to commend him for his blunt honesty.

"Who's the kid you got into a fight with?" Daryl asked, now facing him fully, his crossbow relaxed in his arms.

Luke shrugged. "Just a kid who needed to be hit."

Daryl frowned at that. "Don't go soundin' like your Uncle Merle," he said. "What'd the kid do that deserved a hit?" Luke sighed and shrugged again and looked to the ground. "You know we ain't goin' anywhere until you tell me."

"I know the way back home," Luke said.

"Jus' tell me," Daryl said.

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," Daryl told him in a slightly firm tone.

Luke sighed and was quiet and Daryl stood there, waiting. He had all of the time in the world. He tracked animals for hours at a time and Beth had often told him how he was the most patient man she knew. He had nowhere to be right now and he meant what he said. They weren't going anywhere until Luke told him what happened because he wasn't like Merle. He never had been like him. If Luke and Hunter were his sons, Merle would have laughed and clapped them on the back and probably given them some boxing tips.

Daryl didn't want his boys like that. It had taken himself years to work past the anger always burning within his chest and he was raising his kids in a completely different life than the one he had lived in. His kids should have no reason to be so angry.

Luke kept looking at him and Daryl just kept looking back. Twelve-years-old and Beth told him often that he was growing into a very handsome young man – something that always made the tips of his ears turn red just like Daryl's would have if she had said that to him. His hair seemed to lose more of its curl every day and it was this golden sandy color. Daryl had only seen Luke's birth mom a few times and she had been so ravaged with her drug use but he was pretty sure that Luke was starting to look more like her.

Luke sighed heavily then. "That kid… he called mom…" he started to say but he stuttered over his words as if he didn't really want to say it at all.

Daryl felt himself tense slightly. "What'd he call your mom?" He asked and he didn't care if this kid was in middle school. If he said something about Beth, he'd have to answer to him.

Luke was no longer looking at him. "He called her a milf."

Daryl blinked at him for a few moments with a series of thoughts going through his mind. One, he couldn't believe that a twelve-year-old would say something like that and two, he couldn't exactly blame him because Daryl knew his wife was the prettiest woman in town. And he wasn't being biased at all. She really was. Daryl was silent and an observer and he saw all of the other women in town. He didn't think it was a secret that Beth surpassed them all. He just couldn't believe a kid would look at her and say that.

Daryl cleared his throat, feeling a little awkward. "A'right," he said quietly, nodding.

"He needed to be hit," Luke said again. "He can't say something like that about mom."

"A'right," Daryl said again. "Come on. Let's head back."

Luke looked surprised. "What about hunting?"

"You know I didn't bring you out here to hunt," Daryl said. "If we find a squirrel or somethin', take a shot at it if you get one."

He began walking and Luke fell into step beside him.

"Are you mad?" Luke asked him after a few minutes in a quiet voice, almost scared.

"Nah," Daryl answered after thinking it through for a moment. "Not at you 'cause you're right. No one can disrespect your mom like that. But you know how she is. She was up most of the night though, worryin' 'bout you, thinkin' she had done somethin'."

Luke looked down to the ground as they walked. "I just don't want her coming around the school so much. Does that make me a brat?"

Daryl was quiet for a moment. "I think it just makes you twelve. I'm gonna ground you for a week though. I don't want you goin' around, punchin' people."

Luke looked like he wanted to argue but he just sighed softly and nodded his head.

"And you tell me the name of the kid who said that 'bout your mom," he added.

It wasn't as if he was going to go to the kid's house and punch him himself but he just wanted to know who said that about his wife. Luke told him the kid's name and he had no idea who that kid was but he was sure as hell going to learn.

When they got back to the house, Beth was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with one leg drawn up, hugged to her chest, as she sipped a cup of coffee and looked through the newspaper that was delivered every morning. That was another thing since they moved out of the woods. They were on a paperboy's route.

"Hey," she looked up and greeted them softly with a matching soft smile. "You weren't gone long at all. Hunter and Abby are still asleep but I was going to make pancakes when they woke up."

"Sounds good," Daryl nodded, setting his crossbow down on one of the other chairs and went to pour himself another cup of coffee. "Luke's grounded for a week," he then said.

"Alright," Beth said, looking to Luke to see what he thought of that.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep for a little bit," Luke said and then went to Beth, bending over and kissing her on the cheek. Beth smiled at him and he didn't say anything before turning and leaving the kitchen.

Beth instantly turned her head to look at Daryl but he didn't explain as he came to sit down at the table across from her, sipping at his cup. And when she realized that he probably wasn't going to say anything, she sighed heavily and kicked him gently in the leg underneath the table.

"Daryl," she said and he looked at her, taking another sip as he grabbed the front section of the paper. "What did he say?"

Daryl shrugged. "Some kid called you a milf and Luke was defendin' your honor."

"Oh," she said and after a moment, her brow furrowed and she frowned. "What's a milf?"

Daryl smirked and looked at her. She had no idea how her innocence just made her prettier.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	3. Cast

**Thank you so much for your support with this story. I am having a lot of things going on in my personal life right now and sometimes, I just want to write fluff. **

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…

**Chapter Three. **Cast.

Beth felt her heart pounding at the base of her throat and everything in her stomach threatened to slide upwards and fall from her mouth. She did her best to swallow her nausea down as she ran into the emergency room, running straight towards the front desk.

"Daryl Dixon," she said, out of breath but she could still hear the shaking in her voice. Her entire body is shaking and she has no idea how she was able to drive here without something happening to her as well. "I'm his wife," she then quickly added as the nurse looked at her and then turned towards her computer.

"He's in room 202," the nurse said and no sooner had the words left her mouth that Beth was hurrying away again without even pausing to thank her.

She avoided the elevator, having no patience for waiting for it and he was only on the second floor anyway. She took the stairs as quickly as she could, her heart drumming so quickly, it was painful with each beat and she hoped it would slow down when her eyes laid upon him again and she saw that he was alright. She prayed feverishly that he was alright. He _had_ to be alright because being without Daryl wasn't even a possibility for her.

She was home when the call came, making brownies for the elementary school bake sale and it was the usual Sunday in their house, all the kids inside because of the rain. Abby was with her, always wanting to help anytime Beth was in the kitchen. Luke and his best friend, Molly, were in the dining room, quizzing one another for a solar system test they had the next day in science class and she could hear Hunter in the study, playing destruction with his toys as usual. When the phone rang, she had been laughing because Abby had gotten chocolate all in her hair and when she answered and the person on the other end of the phone began to speak, all sound and color rushed away from her in one great whoosh.

When she rushed into room 202, Daryl was sitting up in one of the beds, his left arm in a cast and sling and various cuts and bruises on his face. He was grumbling something as he tried to work the remote for the television bolted to the wall but he saw her from the corner of his eye and he turned his head towards the door. He opened his mouth to say something but Beth threw herself against him, throwing her arms around his neck and she smelled his scent of fresh dirt and cigarette smoke and trees and _Daryl_ and she could cry.

"I'm going to kill you Daryl Dixon," she informed him, pulling back the instant she felt him wince a little from her tight embrace.

He chuckled then. "Someone needs to work on their bedside manner."

"Where's the doctor?" She demanded.

Daryl shrugged. "He comes in and out. Said I'll prob'ly have to stay overnight. Banged my head on the steerin' wheel pretty good and the scan they did shows I have a small concussion. He mentioned stayin' for observation or somethin' like that. Do you know if Martinez towed the truck to the shop?"

"I've had other things on my mind besides the truck," she couldn't help but frown at him. Now that she knew he was up and talking and sounding like him, she permitted herself to frown, the rush of adrenaline slowly seeping from her and she now felt exhausted.

She looked at him and sighed softly. She leaned in and resting her head on the back of his head, she pressed her lips to his forehead to the bruise there. She then pulled up a chair to his bedside and sat down, her hand finding his. He was hooked up to a machine that kept track of his heartbeat, the beeping steady and strong, and she looked at it as if she knew the first thing about reading it. There had been a time, when she was younger, when she had considered becoming a nurse though that interest had only lasted for a couple of weeks before she had gone back to wanting to work with kids and teach music. For the first time in years, she wished she had become a nurse so she didn't feel so clueless right now.

"Where are the kids?" Daryl asked, looking at her closely.

She looked even more pale than usual.

Beth swallowed before answering. "I rushed out of there so fast. I told Luke to call my parents and have them come over. I should call to make sure they're there…" But the thought of leaving him again so soon after just finding him made her stomach lurch.

"Go on," Daryl gave her hand a squeeze, reading her mind. "I ain't goin' anywhere."

Beth nodded and slowly stood up. She leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips.

"It's just a broken arm," he told her quietly.

"And a concussion," she reminded him.

He shrugged his still good shoulder. "Don't worry 'bout that. Dixons have thick heads."

And she smiled a little because she supposed no one knew that better than a woman who had actually married a Dixon. And seeing her smile, Daryl's own lips twitched a little, too.

Beth finally, reluctantly, left the room and there was a payphone on the wall near the stairs at the end of the hallway. She dug around in her purse and found a quarter, slipping it in and dialing the number for home. It rang only two times before her father picked up.

"Bethy?" He asked, assuming, hoping that that's who was calling.

"He's alright," Beth said and she heard Hershel sigh with relief. "A broken arm and a slight concussion. I haven't talked to the doctor yet but Daryl said they might want to keep him here overnight for observation. Are the kids alright?"

"Don't you worry about the kids. I'm here and your sister's coming over to help. Your mother's on the way to the hospital to be with you two there," Hershel said. "I'm glad I can tell the kids their daddy's alright."

"I'm not sure what I'm doing yet… I might stay here tonight with him but I know Daryl won't want me to," she said.

"You and Daryl can talk that over. Just don't worry about the kids," he said again. "They'll be happy to have Grandpa over here with them."

"Not too much sugar, dad," Beth then reminded him as she always had to whenever Hershel was in charge of babysitting the kids.

It was really more for Hershel than for the kids. Three kids – especially their three kids – were a handful to handle _without_ the added craziness of them being hyped up on sugar. And though she never wanted to think about it, her daddy was getting up there in age and she didn't want him to hurt himself, chasing after three kids and trying to wrangle them like monkeys at the zoo.

When she returned to the room, a tall man with a white lab coat stood at the foot of the bed.

"Told 'im not to say anythin' 'til you got back here," Daryl said.

"Hello, Mrs. Dixon. I'm Dr. Edwards," the man smiled warmly at her.

"Hi," Beth stepped forward to shake his hand. "Daryl said you might want to keep him overnight? I can't tell if that's good or not."

"It's perfectly normal protocol for someone suffering from a concussion. He's been awake and talking so we know he's not in any danger but we just want to keep him to keep a close eye on him," Dr. Edwards said. "He'll be good to go by tomorrow morning. The only other injury is obviously his arm. Luckily though, it was a clean break and should heal without complications. Six weeks with the cast on."

Daryl grumbled something under his breath about being useless for the next six weeks but Beth frowned at him.

"You need a break, Daryl. You do too much," she said but Daryl just frowning and grumbling. Daryl had never had idle hands and Beth didn't know if he knew how to relax and do nothing for six weeks. He was probably going to drive her crazy.

After Dr. Edwards left, Beth sat down in the chair beside the bed again.

"What about work?" Daryl asked with a frown.

"We'll go and talk with Dale tomorrow when you get out of here. He's not going to fire you, Daryl," she said with a gentle voice.

"Ain't worried about him firin' me. Worried about us not having my paycheck for six weeks," he said. "And these hospital bills-"

"Stop," Beth cut him off. "We still have my paycheck and you're under my insurance. Don't worry about things like that. Just worry about getting better. And taking it easy."

There was a knock on the door and a girl in pink scrubs entered, smiling and carrying a tray. "I have your dinner, Mr. Dixon," she said as she set it down on the table tray and rolled it over so it was in front of him before leaving again.

Beth stood up and lifted the lid from the plate so they could see the food. "Yummy. Lasagna and salad and you have a cookie for dessert."

Daryl kept frowning. "This looks like somethin' scraped off the side of the road."

"Shut up and eat," Beth said sternly and handed him his fork. "And you will eat it all. I want this plate clean, Daryl Dixon."

There was another knock and they both looked to see Annette and she entered when they saw her. She was breathless and holding a small vase of yellow tulips in her arms.

"Hi, sweetie." Annette set the vase of flowers down on the table beside the bed and then leaned in, kissing his head. "How are you?"

"Your daughter's tryin' to shove food down my throat," Daryl grumbled.

"Yes, I am," Beth gave him an overly-sweet smile. She took the fork and breaking off a bit of the lasagna, she brought it to his mouth. "Eat," she then ordered him sternly.

Daryl sighed and opened his mouth and Beth gently guided the fork inside, pulling it back and watching him chew with a grimace on his face. He swallowed and then grimaced even more. He pushed the tray table away from him.

"_Tastes_ like somethin' scraped off the side of the road, too," he frowned.

Annette was doing her best not to laugh. "I'll go and get you something and bring it back. What would you like?" She asked. "Taco Bell, right?"

After Daryl gave her his order and Annette left again, Beth sat down in the chair again.

"You're going to be the worst patient in the world, aren't you?" She asked.

He shrugged his good shoulder. "Prob'ly," he said, seeing no reason to deny it. He looked at her as he settled back against the pillows behind him. "Didn' we vow in sickness and health or somethin' like that when we got married?"

Beth looked at him. "Do you remember anything about our wedding ceremony?" She asked.

"Not really," he said and then smirked a little when she reached out and pinched his thigh.

…

Beth loved Daryl. Absolutely adored and loved him.

And she wanted to kill him and she knew that if she did actually go through with it, she couldn't imagine any jury convicting her if they knew what she had been going through. She knew Daryl was going to be a terrible patient but she hadn't quite been prepared. She couldn't believe it but in their entire marriage, Daryl had never been sick. He seemed to have an immune system made out of steel because even when the kids got colds and passed it onto her, Daryl never contracted it for himself.

So, she had never really had the opportunity to baby him like she did the kids when they were sick and she knew that there was so much that Daryl was still getting used to because he had never had it growing up. He had never had anyone nurture him when he was sick and Beth wanted to make sure that she completely smothered him.

Now, truthfully, she just wanted to smother him with a pillow.

He was on several medicines both for his head and his arm and she made sure he took them in the morning, afternoon and night as he was prescribed to but first the water was too cold and then too warm and he wanted to wash it all down with a beer or something like that. And then when she made him lie in bed, first he was too hot and could she open a window? But then he was too cold and could she close the window and get him some more blankets? The soup she made had too many carrots so when she made it again, she hardly put any in and then he complained about there not being enough carrots.

She missed their little house because going up and down the stairs constantly was wearing her out. But if he was out of bed, he was downstairs, tinkering away on things until she yelled at him to stop and to go sit down. The house wasn't going to fall apart in six weeks if he wasn't constantly seeing to it. Their house was solid. He had made sure of it himself and there was no way there were that many repairs that had to be done right that instant.

He wore the sling for the first week and then tossed it aside and refused to put it back on no matter how much Beth told him to. It was easier for him to move around without it and he didn't feel like a complete invalid. He grumbled constantly about the cast though and how if he was never able to shoot a crossbow right again, he was going to go straight down to the hospital and shoot Dr. Edwards right in the heart with one of his bolts.

Beth told herself that he was just kidding.

Martinez dropped his truck off after the second week, the guys in the garage having all repaired it and as soon as he was gone, Daryl was outside, under the hood, checking out everything for himself. Since he only had one good arm, he had Hunter help him, the boy always eager to learn something else about cars and Daryl made a list of everything he would have to do over since the other guys hadn't seemed to do it up to his standards.

"You need to take it easy," Beth reminded him. "Most people love the chance to be lazy."

"I ain't most people," Daryl said with a frown.

"I know and I'm not asking you to be," she suppressed a sigh. "I'm just saying that you were in an accident and there's nothing wrong with taking a little bit of time off. You're always working as hard as you can and your body needs a break… what?" She asked when she saw that he was no longer looking at her but something past her and he was frowning deeply.

"How long has this sink been drippin'?" He asked, moving past her to the kitchen faucet.

This time, she does sigh. Quite heavily. "I don't know. Daryl-"

"Luke!" Daryl called out. "Get me a wrench!"

When they were at the farm for Sunday dinner, Annette laughed a little when Beth told her everything as they stood in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner and getting dessert ready.

"You're lucky, baby," Annette told her. "You have a man who always has to be working. A lot of women marry men who have no problem sitting on their butts for weeks at a time."

Beth sighed. "I know I'm lucky but… that doesn't mean I don't want to strangle him all the same," she said and Annette smiled at her. "I thought it would be fun, spoiling him. He never got that when he was a kid and I wanted to make sure he got it now. But he's so darn difficult and stubborn and I keep telling him that things won't fall apart without him."

"Your brother and father are two of the worst patients, too," Annette said. "It's something in the male DNA, I swear. They want to still be men but be babied at the same time."

"Well, what do you do?" Beth looked to her mother expectedly and hopeful.

Annette only shrugged though. "Unfortunately, you just have to get through it. And then be sure to make his life a living hell for a little bit when he's better again."

And Beth smiled despite herself.

…

The kids had taken it upon themselves to decorate his cast. Abby squiggled lines in different colors all over it, giggling as she did. Hunter had drawn random spirals and lightning bolts and Luke had taken great care in drawing a deer – a buck with antlers. Even Merle signed his cast though Daryl warned him not to write any dirty words and Merle laughed because that was exactly what he had been planning.

"How this happen anyway?" Merle asked as they sat on the couch.

Daryl shrugged. "Deer in the road. Swerved to avoid it. Figured the deer would do more damage to my truck."

Merle chuckled at that. "When do ya get the cast off?"

"Doctor's appointment scheduled for Wednesday," Daryl answered.

"And how's Beth treatin' ya? Wear any hot lil' outfits to make ya feel better?" He grinned and when Daryl just stared at him, Merle's grin grew even wider.

On Wednesday, Dr. Edwards showed them to a small room and Daryl sat on the examination room, the paper sheet crinkling beneath his body, and Beth stood beside him. Dr. Edwards slowly and carefully cut the cast away and both Daryl and Beth sighed with relief when it was off. His arm was wrinkled and it smelled and the cast smelled even worse as the doctor tossed it away.

"Move it for me," Dr. Edwards said and Daryl instantly twisted it one way and then another and it was stiff and a little sore but he felt the cool air of freedom against his skin and he had never felt better.

Dr. Edwards instructed Daryl to go wash his arm in the sink and he left to go get some final papers he needed him to sign. Daryl sighed again when the cool water hit his skin and he pumped some soap in his other hand, rubbing it up and down the length of his forearm. Beth got some paper towels from the dispenser and helped him dry it off once he was finished and she lifted her eyes, finding that he was already looking at her.

She gave him a smile. "All better?"

He nodded. "Yeah," he said though it obviously didn't express just how good it felt. He lifted his right hand and slipped it to the back of her neck, pulling her in closer. "Thanks for takin' care of me," he said in a quiet voice.

And Beth kept smiling. "Anytime."

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	4. Uncle

**Writing this story puts me in a happy mood and I definitely need that right now. Writing Merle still makes me so nervous though. **

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**Chapter Four. **Uncle.

Merle still didn't get it and he didn't know if he ever would. They had the same parents. The same drunk, neglectful mom and the same asshole, abusive dad and they grew up with the same childhood, each having the scars to prove it. But instead of following the path that all Dixon men seemed to take for themselves, Daryl, somehow veered in the complete opposite direction. While every other man before him turned left, Daryl managed to turn right.

He always knew his baby brother was the sweet one.

Daryl went and got himself married to a pretty, sweet girl and started having kids and bought a house, working hard and fixing it up until it looked like something found in a magazine; like a place Dixons would never be allowed to step foot in, let alone live in.

He had been in Alabama for a while, pursuing a few business opportunities, and when he got back to town again, the news hit him almost immediately. He had been in his usual preferred bar in town owned by his friend, Joe, and as Joe poured him a shot of whiskey, the man asked with a grin if he had heard what his little brother had gone and done.

"What the hell you talkin' about?" Merle frowned, staring at him and for a moment, he wondered if Daryl had gone and gotten himself arrested over something but that didn't make any sense. Daryl was practically a hermit up in that house he lived in in the woods.

"Your brother went and got himself married," Joe said, all the while still grinning.

Merle's frown deepened even more. That made about as much sense as Daryl getting in arrested. Daryl getting married? He almost snorted into his glass. Stupid rumors. That's all it was. It had to be. Daryl wouldn't get married. Boy had never expressed any interest in anything like that. Neither of them had. Merle had his fair share of female partners but he was never going to be tied down and Daryl always seemed to hate most people and if he could, he would live the rest of his life without talking to another human being.

"To who?" Merle couldn't help but ask.

"You know Hershel Greene?" Joe asked and Merle nodded. It was a small town and everyone knew Hershel Greene. Joe started chuckling and he shook his head as if far too amused himself with what he was about to say. "_His_ daughter. His _youngest_ daughter."

"What?" Merle felt like his head was spinning and he had hardly drank anything yet.

He had only been gone for a few months and now, he came back to find his brother married to a farmer's daughter? How the hell did Daryl even know Hershel Greene's daughter?

The next morning, after having crashed on a buddy's couch, too drunk to do anything else, Merle pulled himself up and with a pounding headache, he drove himself to Daryl's house. He noted immediately that there was an extra car parked out front – some Subaru little SUV thing – and the front porch was cleared of all of the extra parts Daryl always had laying around. His head only ached more as he pounded on the door with a heavy fist.

He heard shuffling inside and then the door opened, revealing Daryl and the smell of breakfast cooking wafting into his nose. Without a word, Daryl unlatched the screen door and pushed it open and Merle stepped into the house. The _clean_ house. The walls had been painted with a fresh coat and there was some soft looking red blanket hanging over the back of the couch and the air smelled sweet. He heard the sizzling of bacon and looking into the kitchen, he saw a tiny blonde standing at the stove wearing one of Daryl's flannel shirts and nothing else.

He stood there, blinking at her, and she looked at him, smiling a little hesitantly.

"This is Beth, my wife," Daryl grunted as if this was all perfectly normal, and then he went to go pour a cup of coffee from the small machine on the counter.

Beth stood there, still smiling but still looking unsure, and Merle just kept staring at her. She was a pretty little thing – all blonde hair and big blue eyes and pale, soft-looking skin. Merle got why Daryl would pick this one but still, why had Daryl gone and got himself married to a girl like this? This was definitely the kind of a girl a guy married but some other guy. Not a Dixon.

"How old are you, girl?" Merle asked, ignoring Daryl frowning at him. "Just want to make sure my brother ain't gonna get in trouble for havin' you up here."

"I'm twenty-two," she answered him, still studying him as he studied her. "How old are you? I'm wondering if you're my brother-in-law or father-in-law," she then said and he looked at her for a moment before breaking into a slow smile. She smiled a little, too, and then went back to the stove and the frying pan of the sizzling bacon. "I'm making bacon and sunny-side up eggs," she informed him. "Would you like to stay for breakfast?"

Without a word, Daryl handed him the cup of coffee he had poured. Merle stared at him and made sure he knew there was still plenty they had to talk about. When breakfast was ready and they all sat down at the table like some happy family, Beth bowed her head and said a quick quiet prayer to herself and though Daryl didn't say it along with her, he waited until she was done before he began eating.

And as Merle shoveled the eggs and bacon in his mouth, he knew it wasn't just the liquor still sloshing around in his brain that made this the best breakfast he ever had.

Afterwards, he asked Daryl why the hell he had gone and gotten himself married and Daryl just shrugged his shoulders and didn't explain anything and Merle knew he wasn't really expecting him to. So as he spent more time with them, he took it upon himself to watch them. Beth was always smiling and beaming with happiness every time she looked at Daryl and Daryl seemed to be smiling a little bit more, too – or as much as he was able to smile. Merle didn't really think he had seen it before so he couldn't be too sure but he was pretty certain that his little brother was happy. And not only happy but he seemed to be in love with his wife, too. Of course, that was all assumption since Merle wouldn't know what love looked like if it came and kicked him in the ass.

He still didn't understand just how those two had met and fallen in love and gotten married but Merle grew to not really care that much. Beth was a good woman and she made Daryl happy and every time Merle came over, she fed him so she was alright in his book.

Within a few years, they had adopted one kid – Luke – and had had two of their own. Hunter and Abby. And he drifted in and out of jail even though he wanted to stay clean for his family and it only ever pissed Daryl off something fierce but Merle liked to remind him. Merle wasn't like Daryl. He had never had too many skills that could give him legitimate opportunities in this world. He didn't have the patience that Daryl seemed to have in limitless supply and had never showed the interest in the things that Daryl excelled at.

He came and went – either locked up or just drifting around - but anytime he was back, Beth always made up the couch for him and made sure he had enough blankets and the kids would clamber all over him because despite everything, he was still Uncle Merle and they loved when he was there. He had no idea how to be an uncle to these kids because these were going to be good kids. Beth and Daryl were raising them, making sure of it. He couldn't be like his and Daryl's uncles who gave them beers and cigarettes and nude magazines and taught them in the fine ways of fighting and cursing. Beth gave him a look anytime he let even "hell" slip out around the kids.

So, he would watch Daryl with his kids in an attempt to figure out how to be an uncle but watching his brother just made him even more confused. His little brother was a good dad. A hell of a dad. The sort of dad that the kids ran to when he came home because they wanted to greet him and tell him all about their days and Daryl just smiled a little and listened closely to everything they said even as the words all overlapped each other and he ushered them back towards the house. The sort of dad who built his sons a tree house and his daughter a dollhouse and taught them all about hunting and engines and who never even thought of raising a hand to any of them.

Hunter went through this phase when he was a baby where he didn't want Beth to put him down, always wanting to be in his mama's arms, and it seemed as if Abby was going through the same phase but this time, with Daryl. The little girl whimpered if Daryl even made the motion of bending down to put her on her feet so Daryl became used to holding her in his left arm and doing most things with his right.

He had never had a birthday celebration of any kind until Beth became a Dixon and on his fiftieth birthday, Beth baked him a cake and cooked dinner and he came over to their white farmhouse for a family celebration. He even wore the pointed party hat that Hunter snapped on his head. Afterwards, they went outside and he sat beside Daryl in two lawn chairs in the yard as mosquitos buzzed in their ears and lightning bugs slowly lit the sky as the sun nearly disappeared behind the horizon line. The boys were laughing, chasing one another, Hunter with his marshmallow gun as the boy seemed to have with him all of the time now, and Abby sat in her daddy's lap, her fingers stretching out for a lightning bug anytime one flew near her.

Beth was inside, cleaning up and she had shooed Daryl outside when he had tried to help, and they could hear her through the open windows, singing along with a song on the radio.

Merle sipped his beer and kept looking at Daryl from the corner of his eye. Daryl was drinking his own bottle of beer but they both knew he would only drink one before he cut himself off. He didn't like drinking around the kids and Merle still had no idea where he learned all of this stuff. How to be a husband. How to be a dad. There was a part of him that might have been jealous of this whole life Daryl had made for himself but Merle wasn't the kind to be jealous about something like this. It wasn't as if he wanted it for himself.

"Egg!" Abby exclaimed, pointing to a lightning bug.

"Bug," Daryl told her but she just turned her head and smiled at him.

Merle chuckled a little. "Still callin' everythin' an egg, I see."

Daryl nodded and sighed a little. "Beth's gettin' worried. 'parently, she should be talking more for her age."

Merle shrugged at that. "You were a late talker."

"Yeah?" Daryl looked at him.

"Yeah," Merle nodded and took a swig of beer. "Course when you did learn to talk, still didn' do too much of it. Talkin' was never somethin' you seemed interested in."

"How old you think I was?" Daryl asked.

Merle knew that even if their parents were alive, Daryl would never ask them any of this. Not their mom and definitely not their old man. Merle had always been Daryl's prime caregiver when they were kids; when Merle was around.

"Prob'ly 'round the age that lil' one is now," Merle shrugged. "She'll talk when she's ready."

Daryl nodded again. "Beth just looks at other kids her age at the daycare and Hunter started talkin' 'round two. Still haven't gotten him to shut up."

Merle grinned at that and swigged some more beer. He slinked a little lower in his chair and listened to the mixture of cicadas and crickets hiding themselves in the tall field grass. Daryl didn't say anything else either and instead, seemed to be in deep thought, his face with that pensive look and slight pull between his eyebrows. Merle didn't ask though, figuring her was probably just thinking about his kid. That almost made Merle snort. Daryl didn't seem to think about much these days that weren't about Beth or the kids. Merle knew he didn't think much about anything if it didn't concern himself.

"Uncle Merle!" Hunter suddenly exclaimed and came running to him. "Show me and Luke how to do an Army crawl!"

Merle almost groaned. He was too damn comfortable to move. "I'm too old for that, boy," he protested.

"No, you ain't," Hunter grabbed his hand and began tugging. "Come on."

"Ask your daddy to show you," he said and then looked back to Daryl.

Daryl just shrugged though. "They want their uncle to show 'em."

"Come on, Uncle Merle!" Luke shouted from further in the yard.

This time, Merle did groan but he handed Daryl his beer bottle before sliding from the chair onto his knees in the soft grass. Hunter was immediately beside him, mirroring his actions. He didn't know how long he and the boys crawled around the yard on their stomachs but eventually, Beth stepped onto the porch.

"Boys! Time for bed!" She called out to them.

Merle wasn't going to pretend that he wasn't relieved about that. He didn't know how Daryl and Beth did this. He loved the kids. They were his family; his blood. But every time he came over here, he left completely exhausted.

The boys jumped up and ran into the house and Merle stood up with his knees cracking and his back sore and screaming at him. He really was getting too old for this kind of shit. He turned and saw Beth still standing on the porch, smiling at him. He saw that Daryl was gone, having already taken Abby inside.

"You're such a cool uncle," Beth joked with him as he approached.

Merle snorted. "Your brother's younger than me. He should be the one doin' this with them." He put a hand on his back and bent it backwards slightly, cracking it.

Beth just smiled. "They adore you," she said in that gentle voice of hers that made it no secret to him as to why his brother married her.

She would have been too sweet for any other Dixon but she got the Dixon who was the least like all of the others who came before him.

"You want some cake to take with you?" She asked. "You can take the rest for your friends," she said and they both pretended that his friends wouldn't it all while in the midst of a high.

Merle followed her into the house and in the kitchen, she had already packed up the rest of the cake in a plastic container and in another container, she had given him some dinner leftovers. Upstairs, he could hear the boys running around and Daryl telling Hunter to stop wasting the toothpaste like that.

"Thanks, darlin'," Merle smiled at Beth and kissed her on the cheek. "Best birthday yet."

She smiled because he said that to her every year but she didn't point it out to him. "You know you can always stay the night, Merle," she told him.

"Got other birthday plans tonight," he shook his head but didn't tell her what those plans were because some things weren't just meant to be heard by a girl like his sister-in-law.

Beth nodded with understanding and she stood up on her toes, kissing his cheek. "Happy birthday, Merle," she said with a small, warm smile and she left the kitchen. He heard the stairs creaking as she went upstairs and a minute later, Daryl came down, meeting him out on the front porch where he was waiting for him.

"Headin' out?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah," Merle nodded. "Got some people waitin' for me."

Daryl nodded but didn't ask and Merle didn't tell him. Daryl wasn't an idiot and knew what Merle still got himself up to but he never asked and Merle never told because even though for a long time, Daryl used to follow him around and do a lot of the same things, that wasn't how it was anymore. Daryl wasn't a part of that particular part of his life anymore and Merle knew he was a selfish asshole most of the time but he wasn't going to drag Daryl back into it with him either. Daryl had a good life here with his wife and kids in this farmhouse he built them and he couldn't think of someone who deserved this life more.

"Happy birthday," Daryl said.

"Thanks," Merle nodded and gave a smile before heading down the porch steps towards where he parked his truck.

As he drove down the dirt drive towards the road, he looked into the side mirror and saw Daryl going into the house, shutting off lights behind him, probably heading to bed himself.

Merle headed down the road in the direction of Joe's bar and he reached to the seat beside him, managing to take out a piece of cake from the container, only swerving a little, and he ate it with his hand as he drove. He wasn't going to lie and say that he didn't love the dinners he went to at his brother's house but he wasn't going to lie either and say he wasn't more excited about seeing his friends at the bar.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	5. Interview

**This story is pointless fluff and right now, it is exactly what I need to be writing in my life. The next chapter will have some Beth/Daryl alone smutty time. **

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**Chapter Five. **Interview.

"Daryl! She's here!" Beth called out, her voice echoing throughout the house before she hurried out the door onto the front porch.

Sasha was just getting out of the car as Beth hurried down the steps towards her and both wore the biggest smiles as they collided into one another with laughter. They hugged one another so tightly as if they hadn't just seen one another the month before when Beth had come to Savannah to visit her and Sasha had talked with her about her next story. Sasha worked for a small publication – _The Southern Way_ – and she wanted to write about Daryl and his renovation of their farmhouse. When Beth had heard the idea, she had loved it and when she had told Daryl about it, he had grunted and shrugged and hadn't said anything to agree to it but he hadn't refused to do it either and Beth had made the call to Sasha.

"I can never seem to look at this house enough when I'm here," Sasha said once their hug broke and she looked up at the house. "It's just so unbelievably beautiful."

"Thank you," Beth smiled and she had pride evident in her voice as she always did when someone complimented their home.

This was Daryl's pride and joy. He had spent months and countless hours ripping it apart from the inside and rebuilding it until it was this. A house worthy of being in a magazine.

The screen door opened and Daryl stepped out, coming down the steps towards them. Beth smiled. She knew there was no way he would dress up but he was dressed nice in Daryl Dixon standards. Jeans with no holes in them and a clean flannel shirt.

"Hi, Daryl," Sasha smiled at him.

"Hey," he grunted and they stepped into one another for a short embrace.

Sasha had always been the one friend of Beth's that Daryl had liked. She and Beth had been friends since college and Sasha had helped Beth sneak around to be with Daryl for a year before they made their relationship public and got married but that wasn't why Daryl liked her. Sasha was the only friend of Beth's he met who didn't look at her and then him and have that what the fuck facial expression at the idea of the two of them being together. She never thought he was trash or Beth was stepping down and though Daryl was always able to ignore judgments like that, he was silently grateful that Sasha was his wife's best friend.

"I could not get him to cut his hair," Beth smiled.

Sasha smiled, too. "He'll look fine. Besides, he has that whole scruffy carpenter look."

Daryl frowned a little, looking confused. "That actually a thing?"

"Our readers like their men to look like men," Sasha said but Daryl was still confused – maybe even more so now – and Beth smiled, rubbing his arm.

"Should we go inside?" Beth asked. "Or do you want to start out here?"

"We can start out here," Sasha pulled out a tape recorder and then looked over her shoulder to a man who had gotten out of the car with her. "This is Noah, my photographer. He's going to be taking a lot of pictures of the house today."

The young man with a limp in his step smiled at them.

"I've sent the kids to the farm today so they can't mess the house up. I've been on a bit of a cleaning frenzy," Beth said.

"It looks perfect, Beth," Sasha assured her with a smile. She hit the red record button on the tape recorder. "Could you give me a little history about the house? Do you know the history?" She asked.

"It was built in 1870 in the reconstruction following the Civil War," Beth began since she knew Daryl probably wasn't going to talk more than he had to. "It belonged to the Gibson family since its start and eventually, they added heat and electricity but in the 1950s, the son of that generation decided he wanted to live in Atlanta rather than here so the house had been empty since then. We bought it from Peter Gibson who is living in Phoenix."

"And what made you want to buy this house?" Sasha asked, looking to Daryl this time.

He was quiet for a moment, his arms crossed over his chest but relaxed. "Beth and me lived in a small house in the woods up there," he jerked his chin in the direction. "But our family was growin' and we needed more space. Our friend, Rick, told us 'bout this house on the market and we came to look at it."

Beth had a digital camera that she had taken pictures of the house throughout the process and she now held it out for Sasha to see the house when they first bought it. Sasha had already seen the pictures but she went through them now, shaking her head a little. She then handed the camera to Noah so he could look at them as well and then looked to Daryl.

"Daryl, what was it in this house that you saw _anything_ worth buying?" Sasha asked.

Daryl just shrugged though and Beth looked at him for a moment before she stepped in closer to him and squeezed his arm gently. Daryl shrugged again.

"I think that's a problem a lot of people have. They look at somethin' and start makin' a list of all of the reasons it's a bad idea. It's too hard or too much money and too much work will have to go into it. But I saw the foundation was still solid and when I saw that, I knew the house wasn't a completely lost cause."

Beth smiled, looking to Sasha. "Daryl has always been able to build anything. With our first house, he built two extra bedrooms for our children and he built a tree house and people in town have hired him to build them all sorts of things," she said and the pride was back in her voice as she beamed up at Daryl.

Daryl looked at her and his own lips twitched in a smile.

"Noah, you can start snapping pictures of the outside. Beth, would you mind showing him around? Show him the tree house and the vegetable garden and the exterior?"

"Of course," Beth smiled widely and Noah smiled, too.

After they walked off, Sasha looked to Daryl. "And could you show me around inside?"

Daryl nodded and then turned towards the house, Sasha following him behind.

"We'll start here," Sasha said in the front foyer. She looked down to the picture that Beth had taken and then looked to it as it was now. Warm white walls and hard wood floors and a heavy mirror with a wood frame hanging on the wall. "I can't believe what you were able to do, Daryl," she then said in amazement because it was as she had said to Beth outside. No matter how many times she came here, she was always so amazed at the transformation.

She couldn't wait for this story and these pictures to be published. She knew Beth and Daryl didn't have all of the money in the world. Things had gotten a little better for them over the years – raises at work and Daryl with his side projects – but Sasha wanted it to be even better. She loved Beth and she loved Daryl and their crazy kids and they were good people. Sasha hoped that with this would only help them further because they were good people and they deserved good things to happen to them.

"What type of wood did you use?" She asked him.

"Oak," he answered. "Usually use oak for everthin' I make. Good, sturdy wood. And cherry oak is in a few places 'round the house 'cause it's Beth's favorite. Used it to make her a dining room table."

"I'll definitely want to get a picture of that, too," Sasha said.

"Hmmm," he said, his hands in his pockets.

She looked at him for a moment. "You really have no idea how incredible this is what you've done here, do you?"

Daryl shrugged again. "'s jus' a house."

"That you built into _this_," she swept her hand around.

He looked at her as if she was crazy. "Foundation was already here. Frame, too. Jus' fixed the inside."

"You did more than that, Daryl, and you know it," Sasha said. "And soon, everyone will know it, too."

Daryl looked at her for a moment, studying her. "You really think anyone is gonna care what I did here?"

"Yes," she answered without pause.

Daryl looked like he wanted to argue with her some more but at the same time, he looked like he wanted to believe her, too. But he said nothing and jerked his head towards the living room and even though Sasha had seen it all already, she took notes and asked Daryl questions, still recording everything.

Beth and Noah joined them from outside a little while later and Sasha showed Noah everything she wanted pictures of. Beth found Daryl standing on the back porch and she practically bounced up to him, coming to stand in front of him, her arms slipping around his waist. He smirked a little as he looked down at her, his own arms circling around her.

"You're in deep thought," she then observed.

"They 'bout done?" He asked.

"I think so. I invited them to stay for dinner," she said and he didn't say anything because he was expecting her to do that. "I can't wait to see this article. Sasha is so excited about it and Noah is taking so many pictures." She looked at him for a moment. "Aren't you excited?"

Daryl shrugged but didn't say anything. Beth couldn't help but furrow her brow as she kept her eyes focused up on his face.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"Jus' think it's a waste of time," he answered truthfully.

"It's not," she instantly argued. "No matter what happens, your name will be out there and the world will see what an incredible thing you did."

"Jus' a house," he shrugged and turned his head, looking out over the yard because he didn't really want to look at her at the moment.

Beth squeezed her arms around him tightly. "It's our home, Daryl."

Daryl still kept his eyes turned from her but his arms squeezed around her, too.

…

The article was printed a month later and Sasha sent them a copy of the magazine before it hit the stores. Beth eagerly tore the envelope open and she gasped when she pulled the copy out. Not only was Daryl interviewed for a magazine but he was on the front cover. The _cover_ and she stared down at the picture of their home for everyone to see.

"Daryl!" She called out and hurried down in the basement where he was at his work bench, putting some of his tools away. "Daryl," she rushed to him, holding out the magazine. "You're on the cover!"

Daryl frowned at her for a moment as if he didn't understand and his confusion only grew when he saw the front cover. His eyes squinted and he took the magazine from her, staring down at the picture. Beth stepped in close to him as he turned the pages gingerly until he found the story. Sasha had written nearly four pages with many pictures featured and Beth leaned in to see which ones had been chosen. _Architect of his Own Dream_. He snorted when he read what Sasha had titled the story but Beth elbowed him gently and leaned in even closer and they read the story to themselves silently.

"Makes me sound like I did some kind of miracle," he grunted.

"You did," she smiled and then bouncing up on her toes, she kissed his cheek.

Once the magazine was made public, the phone calls started coming in. It seemed like everyone in the family and their friends were calling to congratulate him and to say how much they loved the article and the pictures and Merle called to tell him that even he bought a copy and could he get his baby brother's autograph?

But those weren't the only calls.

Sasha called to tell them that people were calling her office, asking for Daryl's number but she hadn't given it to anyone without talking to them first. People had seen the article and everything he had done with their house and were now calling from all over the state, wanting to talk with Daryl about getting him to come and do work for them. That just left Daryl confused. What kind of work, he asked and Sasha told him that he was probably the most sought-out carpenter in the state right now.

When she told him that, he held the phone, stunned for a moment before he cleared his throat even though he had no idea what to say. He told Beth and she just smiled as if she wasn't surprised at all.

He didn't know if he was going to actually do this or not but the first call he took was from a woman in Savannah who wanted him to build her a three-season porch onto her house.

"What the hell's a three-season porch?" He asked Beth with a frown once he hung up.

"It's like a sunroom. You use it spring through fall," Beth explained.

"Why wouldn' I just build it for all year?" He was still frowning.

She laughed then. "Well, ask her if that would be alright with her." She looked at him for a moment. "Does this mean you're going to take the job?" She asked.

Daryl shrugged. "Not real convenient." He leaned against the counter beside her where she was cutting up apples into slices. "Have to stay there until the job's done and what about Dale and the garage and you and the kids?"

"How much is she going to pay for this porch?" Beth asked, looking at him.

"Not sure. I need to go there and look things over and give her an estimate. What do you think?" He asked.

Beth was quiet for a moment, picking up one of the apple slices and taking a bite as she thought it through. "I think," she paused to swallow. "You should go this weekend, take a look at what the woman wants, see how much she would pay you and if it would be worth it and then come back and talk to Dale if you decide to take the job."

"Easy as that?" He smiled a little.

"Yep," she smiled in return. "Easy as that."

His smile faded and he fell back into silence and he seemed to fall back into doubt with it and she set the knife down, stepping over to stand in front of him. Her arms looped up around his neck and she felt his hands slide over her hips as they usually did. She gave him a soft smile and without saying a word to him, she stood on her toes and kissed him softly.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"My job. Dale's been good to me and I love workin' at that garage," he said.

"No one ever said you couldn't work at the garage anymore," she answered. "I just think you should give this opportunity a chance. You love building things and you're so good at it and you'll get to show that to more and more people."

He was quiet for a moment, thinking that through. "Might get some real good money from rich folks," he then murmured and that made her laugh softly.

"Exactly," she smiled and her eyes were twinkling and Daryl looked at her for a moment, studying her like he sometimes – a lot of the time – did.

He lifted a hand to the back of his head then and she inched her face closer and he closed the rest of the space between them, pressing his lips to hers. She sighed against his lips and sank against his body, their lips melting together in soft, slow kisses – kisses he eventually deepened and she moaned softly as his tongue brushed against hers. She tasted like apples and something sweet that was entirely Beth and he kissed her deeply, only wanting more of it. He felt a tugging in his stomach and a twitching in his jeans and Beth must have felt it, too, because she pressed her body tighter against him.

"Gross!" Hunter suddenly exclaimed, coming into the kitchen behind them.

He began making gagging sounds and Beth pulled her lips back from Daryl's, looking at him with a smile. She gave him one more peck on the lips and then turned to see Hunter digging around in the refrigerator.

"Hunter Thomas Dixon, you are going to spoil your dinner," she lectured him as she went to get the chocolate pudding cup he was trying to take for himself.

Daryl reached out and took one of the apple slices on the counter beside him, crunching on it as he remained leaning there, deep in thought and not even hearing Hunter whining to Beth about how dinner was hours away and Beth pointing out to him that it was just an hour. He finished the apple slice and wiped his hands on his jeans before moving to the phone on the wall. He looked down to the scrap of paper still on the counter there and he dialed the number, talking with the woman and setting up an appointment for the weekend. When he hung up again, he turned and saw that Beth was watching him with a smile on her face and unmistakable pride in her eyes. He looked away, almost embarrassed.

"You think you'd want to come with me to Savannah this weekend? You and the kids?" He asked that night as they laid in bed, his breath already returning to normal but Beth was still panting beside him and as his hand slipped over her hip, he swore he could still feel her trembling. He wasn't going to lie. He was pretty damn proud of himself.

"Why do you want us to come?" She asked, reaching a hand up, brushing some of his hair back from his eyes.

Daryl shrugged. "Never taken the kids to Savannah 'fore. And I'd feel better if you were there with me," he admitted.

"If you want us there with you, then that's where we'll be," she smiled at him and he smiled a little, too, and she slipped her arms around him, nestling her head against his chest, and he held her tightly to him.

…

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**Thank you for reading and please review!**


	6. Alone

**I admit that there really is no point to this chapter - or to this story in general. This one is just Daryl and Beth having some smutty alone time. **

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**Chapter Six.** Alone.

She officially had the best parents in the world – not that she doubted that but they just made it so obvious every time they offered to do something so unexpected for her.

They had gone over to the farm earlier that afternoon for an early dinner and because Hunter was in a play at school and was nervous about performing in front of an audience – even if he would never admit that out loud. Hershel and Annette volunteered to be his test audience and he recited his lines in the living room for all of them as Beth put the finishing touches on his pilgrim costume. Afterwards, Annette made chicken casserole for dinner and Hershel was playing with Abby and it was suggested that maybe they could leave the kids there for the night. It had been a while since they had spent the night and Hershel said that he was missing his grandkids.

Beth had hesitated only because she knew how much of a handful three kids – _their_ three kids – could be. They had stayed with their parents for months when Daryl had been fixing and rebuilding the white house and Beth knew it had worn on her parents even if they would never say such a thing.

Daryl had looked at Beth and Beth had looked at Daryl and she knew he wasn't going to say anything. The kids seemed excited about it though – both Luke and Hunter exclaiming their wish - but Beth still had to think about it. It wasn't as if this was the first time the kids would ever spend the night at the farm. Her parents were the best parents and the best grandparents but – and she didn't like to think about this – but they were getting older and even she and Daryl got exhausted taking care of three children.

"It's just for one night, Bethy," Annette then said with an amused smile as if she was reading her mind.

"Alright," Beth finally nodded and the boys cheered.

The kids had a dresser full of spare clothes at their grandparents' house so they didn't have to go back for anything so after dinner, they hugged the kids goodnight and made Hunter make promises that he would behave and not drive grandma and grandpa crazy and then they got into the truck to drive back home. It was a quiet drive – just the two of them – and Beth sang softly along with the songs on the radio.

Without the kids, their white farmhouse seemed massive and slightly empty.

"I can't remember the last time we were alone like this," she said with a faint smile, standing on the bottom step of the staircase and watching as Daryl locked the front door.

He turned to look at her and she kept smiling. They stared at one another and didn't say anything and she could feel her heart drumming wildly in her chest.

What was it with Daryl Dixon that he could still give her stomach flips just by looking at her? She felt so silly around him sometimes because they had been together for quite some time now and had been through plenty together and had seen plenty of marriages between family and friends. Love didn't fade but it dulled down a little – especially after a few years. But so many times still, she looked at Daryl and still felt like that young twenty-two year old girl, running off to Atlanta with him to get married.

Daryl approached her slowly like one of his deer in the woods, his eyes never moving from her, and she felt herself unable to look away from him, her stomach twisting with anticipation because even though she didn't quite know what was going to happen, she knew it was going to be something good.

And when he suddenly grabbed her and swung her up in his arms, she shrieked and laughed even though she knew something like this was coming. She was still laughing as he carried her up the stairs and he was giving one of his rare smiles. Their bedroom was the first door at the top of the stairs and as soon as he set her down on her feet, his lips were on hers and she was tugging at his shirt and their door was _wide open_.

He was excited. She could tell and it wasn't just from feeling him through his jeans pressing against her. It was the way he was kissing her. Like he was going to die or lose all grip on his sanity if he didn't kiss her and taste her and make her moan. And she did moan, her fingers gripping his hair and his tongue diving in her mouth, tangling with hers. Her head was spinning and she was beginning to feel a weakness in her knees.

But then, she felt the softness of their bed beneath her and she had absolutely no idea how she had gotten there. Because not only was she on their bed now, but her shirt and bra had been taken off and tossed along the way. She really didn't remember him removing either article of clothing and she whimpered his name as he brushed his lips across a nipple. Her fingers were still tangled in his hair and she wanted to keep her eyes open but she wasn't strong enough against Daryl's warm breath and wet tongue. And then, just as quickly as he had removed her shirt and bra, his hand was suddenly in her jeans, slipping into her underwear and touching her with his fingers.

"Daryl," she moaned out.

She could hear how loud she was being in that moment and years of instinct told her to be quiet before she remembered that she and Daryl were alone. It was just the two of them in the house and their door was open and it was just as how it had been when they had first gotten married and lived in their little house in the woods. Sometimes, it felt like it was just the two of them left in the entire world and she had always felt that if that was the truth, she would be perfectly fine with that.

His fingers were moving up and down and then in and out, sliding in slowly and rubbing her from the inside and she didn't even recognize the sounds coming from her throat. But then she let out something of a whine as his hand was suddenly gone and he had stopped. It took her a moment to realize that he wasn't stopping. Just pausing. He pulled off her jeans and underwear and they received the same treatment as her bra and shirt being toss somewhere into the room. Daryl then pressed a kiss to her stomach and he moved lower, her legs being tossed over his shoulders as he settled himself between them.

She gasped when she felt his mouth and her fingers gripped his hair as if preparing to push him off because he was going down on her. He was eating her out and their bedroom door was _wide open_. She had to remind herself – again – that the kids weren't there and they were alone and they could do anything they wanted and no one would ever be the wiser. Well, her parents probably had some inclination as to what she and Daryl were doing with their free night away from the kids and though she knew she had awesome parents, she didn't really want to think about them right now.

Daryl worked her over with his mouth and fingers, tongue and teeth, and by the time she came, she was practically sobbing for it; moaning and gasping and chanting his name. She was still coming down, still trembling, when he laid his body over hers and his mouth found hers. She felt his body, naked and hard and pressing her down into the mattress and when he kissed her, she tasted the tangy flavor of her. She moaned against his lips and she bent her knees slightly, her inner thighs rubbing against his hips as her hands floated down his back. She kept kissing him as she felt one of his hands slip between them and seconds later, she felt the head of his cock slowly entering her, her flesh parting open for him as his hips pushed him forward.

His lips moved from hers only so he could groan softly and her back arched slightly as she let out a whimper, her nails digging into his skin. For as frenzied as it had been getting themselves to this point, it was slow now. Daryl took his time thrusting inside of her, rocking her body with his, holding her tightly because that was what they had. _Time_. They didn't have to worry about hurrying in case a kid woke up and interrupted and they didn't have to worry about their creaky bed or Beth's sharp cries that would escape her every few minutes. It was just them in their big empty house and no one around for miles.

His pace was steady and she moved her body beneath his, her hips meeting his thrusts and she moaned each time he entered her because he may have chosen a slow speed but he was filling her completely each time and she was so full with him, she felt like all she could do was hold onto him and moan for more.

Daryl lowered his head, finding her nipples again because if he knew Beth liked one thing, it was having her breasts played with. He didn't know if all women had incredibly sensitive nipples but sometimes, all he had to do was suck on them or even just flick them and she would be screaming for him.

And now, it definitely pushed her closer to that edge. He could feel her getting wetter, tighter, squeezing herself around him and clenching him as if she wanted his cock to break off inside of her. He lifted his mouth and gritted his teeth and pounded into her at a slightly quickened speed. If she was going to fall apart, he wanted to be right there with her. And the way she kept moaning his name and pleading with him to keep going and the way she was so tight and getting even tighter around him, he had no idea how he had already lasted for as many minutes as he had.

Beth wondered if she had actually blacked out because one minute, every nerve in her body was exploding and the next minute, Daryl was lying on top of her, panting and his own body shaking with slight trembles. They laid there with their skin covered in a sheen layer of sweat sticking together and both of them were panting heavily.

"Oh god," she was finally able to say, breathless and soft, and he snickered against her neck. He lifted his head and she ran her fingers through his hair, slightly damp with sweat. "What was that?" She asked, looking up into his eyes.

"Did you like it?" He asked and it was so amazing to her that he had gotten so confident in bed when they were making love but seconds after, he slid right back into doubting himself over every little thing.

"Did I like it?" She echoed with a faint smile. "I'm tempted to ask my parents if they can watch the kids for the entire week."

He smirked a little at that. "Damn, girl. 'm not a machine."

Slowly, he extracted his body from hers and he rolled over onto his back beside her, not wanting to crush her. Beth rolled onto her side, facing him, and her hand slid over his stomach, feeling his abs and the hair dusting there. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his shoulder, moving in closer and Daryl lifting his arm and slipping it around her so her body could be pressed against his side. They laid there for a few minutes, the bedroom glowing orange with the setting sun and the last of the birds singing their songs until night.

She let out a breathless giggle and lifted her head from his shoulder, smiling at him, her eyes twinkling and seeing her like that, it made him smile a little, too.

"What?" He asked, his fingers playing with the end strands of her long hair.

"We're lying on our bed, above the covers and completely naked with our bedroom door wide open. A girl could get used to this," she smiled at him.

"Kids will be back tomorrow," he felt the need to point out to her as if she had forgotten.

"Why did we decide to have kids?" Beth asked, the lightness in her tone obvious.

He shrugged the shoulder she wasn't resting against. "Got tired of buyin' condoms."

She burst out laughing at that and he broke out into a grin, too. She dropped her face to his chest and pressed it there, her body still shaking, and he wrapped his other arm around her now, holding her in both, his lips resting to the top of her head. Even of smelling like sweat and sex, she smelled like her usual sweetness, too, and he inhaled her deeply.

"I want some ice cream," Beth then said, lifting her head and looking at him. "Do we have any ice cream or did we give it all to the kids?"

"Want me to go check?" He offered.

Beth shook her head and stretched herself up, pressing her lips to his. "Stay. I'll go."

He smiled a little and settled himself back against the pillows as Beth slipped from the bed and began looking around the floor. She found her underwear and his shirt, pulling them both on, and she gave him one last smile from over her shoulder before she left the bedroom, knowing how much he loved watching her walk away.

She came back a few minutes later with a tub of butter pecan ice cream and two spoons. Daryl had slipped beneath the covers now, sitting up against the headboard, and Beth smiled, crawling back in beside him. She handed him one of the spoons and kissed his bare shoulder again before suddenly bringing her leg over his, straddling him and sitting in his lap, facing him. He smiled a little, his hands resting on her thighs, and watching as she pried the lid of the ice cream tub open and she happily dug her spoon in. The collar of his shirt had slipped down, exposing one of her shoulders and instead of the ice cream, he leaned in and licked the patch of pale skin teasing him. She giggled then and leaned in towards him.

"Mmmm," she moaned around the spoon as the cold ice cream slid down her throat and his mouth was warm and wet against her skin and she couldn't help but press herself down against him.

"Watch it," he growled against her throat, his hands gripping her thighs.

"What am I doing?" She asked innocently with her wide eyes and sweet smile. He only smirked though and she giggled. She ate another spoonful of ice cream and then turned her head, pressing her cold lips to his temple. "I can cool you down," she offered.

He growled again. "Don't you dare," he said and she let out a shriek when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her and flipped her over onto her back.

"Daryl!" She laughed. "The ice cream!" She was still holding the tub and her spoon and Daryl pressed himself on top of her, his mouth going back to the side of her throat.

"You gonna keep eatin' that?" He asked as she dug in for another spoonful.

"Yep," she smiled and he snickered. "What happened to your spoon?"

"Don't really care," he said, his lips trailing down towards her collarbone.

"Do you care if I keep eating?" She asked him and that made him lift his head. He looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and she smiled, taking another scoop and putting it in her mouth. Without a word, he lowered his mouth and kissed her. And when he pulled back, he had a little bit of ice cream in his mouth now, too.

"Nah, I don't care," he smirked a little. "'m not threatened by a tub of butter pecan."

"And that's why you're a real man," she teased, smiling, before taking another spoonful and he lowered his head back down, his lips meeting hers again. "Hey," she said softly, having just thought of something. He looked at her and smirked a little when she took her spoon and offered it to him. He opened his mouth and she fed him the ice cream. "With the kids gone tonight, I'm thinking we're finally able to properly christen these rooms."

"What do you mean?" Daryl asked with a slightly furrowed brow.

Beth just looked at him though and pursed her lips together before she burst out with giggling. It took him another moment and then realization dawned on his face and the tips of his ears turned red as they always did.

"Oh," he said. She dug her spoon back into the tub and he kept his eyes watching her. "Wanna start with the kitchen?" He asked.

…

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**Thank you for reading and please review!**


	7. Girlfriend

**I love writing this story and all of the fluff. I know there doesn't seem to be much of a story to it and just snapshots so thank you so much to those who are reading it and enjoying it. **

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**Chapter Seven. **Meet.

"Shut up, Hunter," Luke growled as the two boys came into the garage after school, Luke heading straight for Daryl's bay and Hunter behind him, laughing so hard, he was barely able to stand. "I'm gonna smack you with a wrench."

"Sure you can catch me with your lips permanently attached to Mika?" Hunter kept teasing and Luke let out a growl that could rival one of their dad's before he spun around and shot out his fist. Hunter was too fast though, easily dodging the punch, and practically skipped away, still laughing.

But he didn't notice his shoelace untied and he tripped, landing flat on his face on the hard cement floor of the garage, and that made Luke double-over, laughing.

"What the hell are you two doin'?" Daryl appeared then, frowning. He went to Hunter and picked the boy up to his feet, dusting him off. "You a'right?" He asked.

"Luke has a girlfriend!" Hunter exclaimed, pointing towards the older boy, and Daryl turned his head to look at him curiously, his eyebrow raised, and Luke's ears went red as he became suddenly quite fascinated with the floor.

Daryl didn't ask him about it though. He'd leave that to Beth.

"Uncle Caesar!" Hunter said loudly as the other mechanic came into the garage from taking a smoke break out back. "Guess what? Luke has a girlfriend!"

And unlike Daryl, Martinez broke into a grin at the announcement. "Oh, really?" He gave the twelve-year-old a sly smile. "When did that happen? She a cute one?"

"It's Mika Samuels," Hunter informed them since Luke wasn't going to say anything.

"She related to Lizzie?" Daryl asked.

Luke nodded and finally spoke. "Her younger sister. She's eleven."

He had only met the girl a couple of times – whenever Carl Grimes brought her around when they were having something at the house. He knew Lori wasn't the biggest fan of her son's girlfriend – something about Lori thinking the girl was unstable or something like that – but Daryl never asked about it. Beth would know more than him but he couldn't help but wonder if Mika was like her older sister.

"They were kissing," Hunter was laughing again and Luke's blush deepened.

"_Kissed_," Luke felt the need to bite out, his glare never leaving his little brother. "We kissed once. I'm gonna go outside." He stalked past them all and as he walked by Hunter, he slugged him in the arm with his fist.

Hunter hissed and rubbed at the tender spot. "Touchy," he muttered.

Martinez laughed and shook his head. "Bit of a late bloomer," he commented. "I already had a slew of girlfriends by the time I was his age."

"There's nothin' late about my kid," Daryl frowned at him. "And I don't want him to be anythin' like you." Martinez just laughed again. "Come on, Hunter. Help me finish up my work for the day so the guy can pick his car up tomorrow morning." He put a hand on the back of Hunter's head and guided him to the car he was trying to finish fixing up before the garage closed for the evening.

Working on cars – they realized – was the only thing that could really calm Hunter down. The boy was still a bit of a terror – he was a Dixon, after all, as Merle liked to remind them – but when he was being too hyper or too annoying and was climbing at the walls, Daryl would pull him outside where they would do some work on the broken down heap of rust that he had bought a couple of months ago from a junk yard. It had been a Firebird once upon a time and Daryl would love to restore it to its former, and original, glory. Hunter wanted to help with every step of the way.

Some days, after school, the bus would let the boys off at Dale's Garage and would help around the shop until it was closed and they would go to the daycare center to pick up Beth and Abby. Dale paid the boys two dollars a day for sweeping and cleaning and to Luke and Hunter, it was the best thing having money of their own.

"I can't wait to tell mama," Hunter grinned as he helped Daryl change the windshield wipers on the car.

"You shouldn' torment your brother so much," Daryl said.

"But it's so much fun," Hunter replied in such a matter-of-factly way, it made Daryl smirk to himself before he could stop himself.

He knew Beth would be surprised and probably happy about this. Beth liked to say that Luke was growing into a very handsome young man and it must be a woman thing because Daryl thought Luke was fine. It's not like he was making people run from him in terror whenever he came around but Beth seemed _proud_ that he was such a good-looking kid. And yet, him having a girlfriend would probably catch her off guard because Luke was like Daryl in a way. He was a shy kid – almost painfully so.

Some kids, when they went through things that Luke and Daryl had both gone through when they were little – and Luke was still with his birth parents – it had them develop into products of the environment. They were taught at an early age to be silent; be invisible and no matter how many years Luke had been with them now, there were still traces of his old life that he clung to.

Daryl admitted that it was pretty impressive that Luke had not only approached a girl and expressed his feelings of like to her but had then kissed her. And Daryl felt weird for feeling a little proud himself to Luke being able to do any of those things.

It was no surprise that Hunter told Beth the instant they saw her when they went to the daycare and it was no surprise that Beth was both surprised and happy.

"I don't want to talk about it," Luke mumbled, his entire face in a deep blush now.

"Alright, we won't talk about it," Beth agreed though it was obvious that that was all she wanted to do. "Would you like to invite her over for dinner this weekend?" She then asked, talking in an almost cautious way.

Luke looked at her, somewhat horrified. "With Hunter there?"

Hunter gasped as if truly offended but they ignored him for the moment.

"We can lock him in the basement for the night," Daryl suggested and Luke looked so damn hopeful at the idea, Daryl almost wanted to smile.

"Mika Samuels," Beth whispered to Daryl as the boys raced ahead to the car and Daryl carried Abby in his arms. "I don't know her. She's obviously not like her sister. Maybe Lori knows something about her."

"Hmmmm," Daryl said and didn't say much else, not having really anything to say.

Silently, he felt bad for Luke. Maybe he should talk to him about keeping relationships a secret. That was one thing he knew all about. He still thought about it sometimes – Beth sneaking around to spend all of her time with someone like him. Opening his house and sharing it with her. Finding it harder and harder each time she had to put her shoes back on and leave.

But Luke was only twelve and he wouldn't understand the raw need a man would have to keep a woman near them. That need to always have her in his arms because if she wasn't, he would feel like he was being ripped apart from his limbs. That need to always make her smile and happy.

One day, Beth wasn't there and the next, she was and that instant he came out of the woods and saw her standing next to her car with the flat tire, he knew that girl was going to change his life – whether he wanted it changed or not. And he hadn't realized then just how badly he wanted it; needed it. Needed her.

No, Luke wouldn't understand any of that. But Daryl could teach him how to be discreet so Hunter wouldn't make his life so miserable.

Like Beth said she would, she talked to Lori. She didn't tell Luke that she was. She just casually asked Lori about Lizzie while they were at work and Lori just sighed and shook her head because the more she made her displeased feelings about Lizzie known, the more adamant Carl was about being with her.

"Do you know Lizzie's younger sister? Mika?" Beth asked.

"Oh, Mika," Lori smiled warmly. "Total sweetheart. I don't know that much about her just because her sister tends to take the spotlight but she used to come here after school when she was a bit younger. I know she's in the science club at school. Why?"

Beth was smiling and she shook her head. She didn't want to say that she was Luke's girlfriend. Girlfriend. He was twelve and she was eleven and it sounded so silly to call Mika that because what did they even do together? But if that was what Luke looked to her as, that was how Beth would look at her, too. She remembered being that age and having her first crush on a boy and how important it had all been at the time.

Later that night, they ate chicken and rice casserole for dinner and afterwards, after the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher and Hunter had gone into the living room, Beth felt it safe to approach the topic of that weekend.

"Do you know what Mika likes to eat?" She asked, still talking softly, not wanting Hunter to overhear even from the other room and over the television.

Luke nodded as he poured himself a glass of water. "She likes mac and cheese."

That made Beth smile. "I'm excited to meet her."

Luke glanced at her and then down to the glass in his hand. "When I talked to her today about coming over for dinner, she was super excited. Wasn't sure I was going to invite her but… I like making her smile," he then said barely above a whisper with a faint blush on his cheeks.

That made Beth smile and she slipped an arm around his shoulders, kissing him on the side of his head. "You are such a sweetheart," she said.

"Mom," he whined, his blush deepening, and she couldn't help but laugh a little.

…

Hunter, of course, tormented Luke for the rest of the week because that was what Hunter did and Luke spent before dinner and after dinner up in the tree house just to escape him for a little bit. Daryl and Beth kept telling Hunter to stop and he would – for a little bit before beginning up again.

"Maybe we should lock him down in the basement for the night," Beth said softly as they laid in bed and the house was quiet around them as the kids all slept in their bedrooms and crickets chirped outside.

Daryl, nearly asleep beside her, managed to give a smirk. "Maybe Merle can take him for a few hours," he grunted.

That made Beth laugh softly. "Hunter would probably love that actually. He'd wind up being the bar's mascot," she smiled and Daryl smiled a little, too. "I thought the big brother was supposed to torment the little brother."

"You think Luke would do somethin' like that?" Daryl opened his eyes to look at her.

"Not for a second," Beth shook her head. "I remember when we first took him in all those years ago. I had people try and talk me out of it."

Daryl kept looking at her. She had never said that.

"Not only was a Dixon my husband but now I was taking a Ridgeway into my home. Some thought I was just asking for trouble," Beth continued. "But they didn't know Luke just like they didn't know you. It always took me by surprise… it still does. How sweet he can be when he was born into what he was. Just like you are."

Daryl was quiet. He knew exactly what she meant because he sometimes thought the same thing. About Luke and about himself, too. Luke was a good kid, a kind kid, and he was a hell of an artist. A Ridgeway or a Dixon, that boy was going to go somewhere in this life. And as for him, he had this house and these kids and this woman as his wife and he would wake up some mornings and just lie there, not wanting to open his eyes because he was convinced that he would open them to find himself still living in some shitty apartment with Merle.

On Saturday night, Luke was waiting anxiously by the front door and Daryl and Beth were pretending not to notice. When the car pulled up, Luke rushed outside to meet Mika at the car and tell Mr. Samuels that he could pick her up again around eight just as Beth had told him to say.

Beth tried not to look too eager as she came into the hallway, Abby on her hip, when Luke and Mika entered the house again. Mika's smile was warm and sweet but nervous, too, and she was holding a small bouquet of yellow daffodils in her hand.

"Mom, this is Mika Samuels. This is my mom," Luke made the introductions. "And that's my dad," he added when Daryl entered the hallway.

"It's so nice to meet you, Mika," Beth smiled warmly.

"It's very nice to meet you, too, Mr. and Mrs. Dixon," Mika said. "I brought these. I grew them myself." She stepped forward and held out the bouquet of daffodils.

"They're beautiful, Mika," Beth smiled, taking them. "Thank you so much. Daffodils are my favorite."

"Luke said," Mika nodded and seemed to be smiling a little easier.

"You grew these?" Daryl finally spoke.

Mika nodded. "My mom, before she died, loved flowers and she had a greenhouse built in the back of our house. I'm pretty much the only one in the family who takes care of it now."

"What else do you grow?" Daryl asked and from there, he and Mika went into the living room, Mika telling Daryl all about her different flowers and plants and how she grew tomatoes for her family because she didn't trust the pesticides the big chains used to grow theirs.

"Well, just like that, she's won your dad over," Beth said to Luke softly as they still stood in the hallway.

Luke smiled a little, looking at her. "I thought that would be a lot harder," he admitted. "Where's Hunter?" He then asked because he was surprised Hunter hadn't been running in here the second the car had pulled up in front of the house. But he was no where to be found and everything was quiet.

Beth smiled. "Your dad gave him a car battery. He's up in his room, cleaning it."

"Seriously?" Luke looked hesitant – as if he didn't quite want to believe that.

Beth just kept smiling and bending down, she set Abby down on her feet and then went to go put the daffodils in some water. Luke went into the living room, Abby following behind him, where Mika was sitting on the couch and Daryl was sitting in one of the armchairs across from her. They were still talking about plants and Mika was asking Daryl questions as he told her about plants that were safe to eat.

Luke sat down beside Mika. "My mom made macaroni and cheese for dinner. I told her how much you like it."

Mika burst into a smile at that and Luke smiled shyly in return as she slipped her hand into his and Daryl looked but pretended not to. Luke was only twelve but maybe he understood some of that need already.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	8. Holiday

**Glorious fluff - I love writing you. Please let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to read with this story and the Dixon family. **

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**Chapter Eight. **Holiday.

Beth hummed along to the Christmas carol – _"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"_ – that was playing on the record player in the corner as she taped paper snowflakes to the front living room window that the kids had made in both school and at the daycare.

Beth supposed that it was no secret that she loved Christmastime. Ever since she was a little girl and she was in a perpetual state of excitement for the entire month of December. The songs, the shopping and the presents, the food, the decorations. Beth loved it all and her love of it all just passed onto all of those around her. She knew Daryl had never been into the holiday. How could he have been? For his entire childhood, it was just another day. It held no meaning for him whatsoever.

The first Christmas they had been together – not married yet but seeing one another nearly every single night – she noticed that he hadn't put up any decorations of any kind and when she pointed it out to him, he just looked at her like she was crazy. The next night, she came with a wreath in her hand and asked if she could hang it on his door. Again, he looked at her as if she was crazy but he just shrugged and grunted and didn't stop her as she hummed to herself and hung it on the front door. She almost wanted to ask him about getting a tree but she stopped herself before she could because Christmas was a delicate subject for him and she didn't want to upset him. She knew she would have to ease him into this holiday.

She wouldn't be able to see him on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and on the twenty-third, she kept apologizing again and again to him.

"There's no one I'd want to spend Christmas with more than you," she told him.

"'s fine, Beth," he said. "You got a family."

And he knew it wasn't his intent but hearing him say that, her heart cracked a little in her chest because he was her family, too. Or rather, she _wanted_ him to be, and the holidays were all about spending time with and celebrating them with your family.

"I got you a Christmas present," she said to him in a quiet voice even though it was only the two of them and he lived close to no one in the woods.

He looked at her, his brow furrowed as if he didn't understand what she had just said, and she just smiled before slipping from the bed. She crossed the small bedroom, still naked, and reached into the bag she had dropped onto the chair when she had arrived earlier that evening. She could feel his eyes on her as she searched and finally located it. She had wrapped it in green paper and red bow and when she came back to the bed, she felt nervous about giving this to him but she couldn't stop smiling. She hoped he liked this. She wanted to get their first Christmas right.

Daryl sat up a bit more and leaned back against the headboard as she slipped back in between the sheets beside him.

"Merry Christmas, Daryl," she smiled to him softly and extended the gift out to him.

He didn't take it right away. He just stared at it for a long moment and then looked at her. She kept smiling, faintly, holding it out for him to take and the longer he didn't, the more the nerves in her stomach tightened.

Finally, he took it from her and she watched with a practically held breath as he tore at the paper so slowly; not ripping it like some crazed kid but rather, he removed it as if it was something delicate he didn't want to destroy. And when he finally revealed what was inside, he didn't move or say anything. He stared down at the leather sheath in his hands and Beth swore she felt her palms beginning to sweat.

"I noticed that the one you have now for your knife is really worn," she explained, hoping that he didn't completely hate it. "And I already water-proofed this one."

Daryl stared at the sheath for another minute before lifting his eyes and looking at her. "I didn' get you anything," he said in a quiet voice.

She smiled a little. "It's alright."

"No, it ain't," he frowned but she just smiled and leaned forward, kissing his cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Daryl," she said again.

Their next Christmas together in the next year, they were married this time and Beth informed him that they were going to decorate their house for the holiday. Daryl didn't argue or complain though sometimes she saw him looking like he really didn't understand what was going on.

Her mom and her went shopping and she bought them an inexpensive artificial tree and stockings – even though they didn't have a fireplace – and snowmen figurines as well as a nativity set and she hung the wreath on their door again and she bought lights for inside and out. She put Daryl in charge of decorating outside even though he had never decorated anything with Christmas lights before. And she declared him a natural when she went out and saw that he had wrapped lights around the front porch and the bushes outside. He had looked proud of himself for that and when it was dark, he plugged them into the outside outlet and they stood in front of the house, looking at the lights and the glow of the Christmas tree through the front window.

She wrapped her arms around him and he dropped an arm around her shoulders and he smirked slightly, shaking his head.

"Can't believe it's the same house," he said.

Beth stood on her toes then and kissed the corner of his mouth. "It's the best house."

For Christmas that year, they exchanged presents on Christmas Eve before going to her parents' house for the night. She had gotten him new bolts for his crossbow and he had gotten her a new bracelet. Even though he told her that she didn't have to hide her wrist, he knew that she still liked to and still wore a collection of bracelets at all times. He was worried that it wasn't enough or wasn't good enough but Beth had beamed when she saw the purple and green braided bracelet and instantly put it on before leaning over and kissing him, thanking him for it as if it was gold.

Years later, it was a bit worn and frayed, but it was still her favorite to wear and she wore it nearly every day.

This year was their first holiday in the white house and Beth had been getting ideas for Christmas decorations for months now. They had a bit more money at their disposal now but Beth still shopped sales and second-hand stores, her eyes always on the lookout for something festive she could use.

This was also the first year they had decided to get a real tree. They had gone down to the farm where Hershel grew a few evergreens and let the kids pick one out before Daryl cut it down. They then spent an entire day, setting it up in their living room and decorating it with lights, popcorn garland and all sorts of homemade ornaments and a few precious glass ones that Annette had given to Beth as a gift. And once they were all done, Daryl came and placed the angel on top.

They had actually gotten snow the night before – not a ton but enough to make snowballs and make small snowmen – and the boys had been outside all day. Beth, meanwhile, used nearly her entire Saturday to decorate, wrapping garland around the banister, hanging the stockings because they actually had a fireplace now, choosing a perfect spot for the nativity set, hanging wreaths and setting out her cinnamon-scented candles and all of her snowmen figurines.

She heard the backdoor open and she thought it was one of the boys but a few minutes later, Daryl came in, a glass of eggnog in his hand. Daryl had a slight addiction to eggnog and around this time of year, he drank it as much as he could, having never drunken it before spending his first Christmas with the Greene family.

"Hey," she smiled. "Can you help me?"

He nodded, in the middle of taking a chug, and he set the glass down to come to the front window. "How high up?" He asked, taking the paper snowflake from her.

"As high as you want," she said as he easily stretched his arm up and pressed the snowflake to the window. She then handed him a couple more that he taped at around the same height. "Perfect," she smiled at him. "I thought you were going to be working all day."

He shrugged, going back to where he set his glass down. He took it and then sank down onto the couch. "Just finished it. Didn' want to start on anythin' else right now," he said, taking another swig of eggnog and looking to Abby as the little girl took a nap in her playpen.

Christmastime was a busy time for Daryl and his woodwork with many in town commissioning him to build something or other. He had been working on a rocking horse for Oscar's youngest son and he would start tomorrow on the nightstand table that Martinez had hired him to make for his wife, Teresa.

The record finished and Beth went to go flip it onto the other side before going and sitting down beside Daryl on the couch, leaning into him. _Silent Night_ began playing.

"What do you think?" She asked him.

Daryl took a moment to look around as if he had to actually check everything out before answering and his eyes rested back on her. "Looks real good," he said and she smiled at the compliment. "What are you baking?"

"Plum pie," she said. "I have no idea what we're having for dinner but dessert is set."

He smiled a little at that and his arm circled around her shoulders, his thumb brushing along her jaw. Without a word, he leaned in and his lips touched hers softly. Beth instantly sank into the kiss, her hands lifting to his cheeks, framing his face as their mouths slowly together.

"Hmmmm," Beth hummed softly as she finally pulled her lips away and that was only so she could breathe again. Daryl kept holding her close and she shifted, sitting sideways so she could drape her legs over his thighs. "I think we should have Christmas here this year. The house is big enough for everyone and it'll be easier staying here than taking the kids and all of the presents to my parents' house."

"All of the presents?" Daryl raised his eyebrows at that.

She smiled. "You know what I mean," she said, laughing a little.

It was something they implemented when Hunter was just a baby and something they stuck to even as they got a bit more spending money over the years. They weren't rich by any means but they had more money than they used to but Beth still didn't want the kids to get accustomed to these extravagant Christmases with tons of presents and toys. The kids got a few new toys and that was it.

Beth very much believed that there was more to Christmas than just how much one received and she wanted her kids to believe that, too.

She nestled in closer and her fingers brushed hair back from his face. "It's getting long," she commented in a quiet voice, looking into his face.

"Wan' me to cut it?" He asked.

She just smiled and shook her head. "I didn't say that."

She tilted her chin up and give him a soft, short kiss, her fingers still in his hair and his thumb brushing along her jaw, pulling her in for another kiss. She smiled against his lips because sometimes, he would get into these affectionate moods and she was powerless to protest against them.

Their lips parted once more so they could both breathe and she smiled at him.

"What do you want for Christmas?" She asked.

He shook his head as he always did and she knew that he would probably never get used to being asked that question let alone actually having an answer to it.

"I'm good," he said and that was his usual answer.

"Maybe some jeans," Beth mused out loud as if he hadn't given any answer at all. "Or some new work gloves maybe? I know you've been talking about needing a new saw but I would need daddy's or Merle's help picking the right one-"

"Beth," he cut her off and when she looked at him, he gave a slight smirk. He shook his head and leaned in, giving her another kiss. "I mean it. I'm good."

Beth looked at him for a moment and then broke into a faint smile. "I'm good, too."

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	9. Smear

**I have no plans to stop writing Beth/Daryl as long as people want to keep reading them. Thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter. I got so many good suggestions and I hope to write many of them!**

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**Chapter Nine. **Smear.

Beth kept telling herself that there was no reason to be nervous. She felt fine. She _was_ fine. Dr. Stookey just wanted to talk to her in person to tell her that she was fine. That was all. This was the best pap smear ever and he just wanted to congratulate her that in all of his years as a doctor, he had never had better pap smear results.

So why couldn't she stop wanting to throw up?

She sat in the chair in his office, waiting for him, and she was twisting her wedding ring over and over around her finger like she did when she got nervous. Because yes. She was nervous and terrified and she swore that if Dr. Stookey didn't come into this office in the next five seconds, she was going to throw up all over his desk.

Thankfully, he seemed to read her mind because the door opened and he walked in, a clipboard in his hand. Beth instantly stood up and spun to look at him.

"Should I call Daryl?" She blurted out and she still felt like throwing up but she also felt like bursting into tears.

Dr. Bob Stookey gave her a gentle smile and closed the door. "We can hold off on doing that for the time being."

_For the time being_. Did that mean that eventually, she would have a reason to call?

She watched as he walked around his desk and sat down behind it across from her, still smiling, and Beth sat down as well and tried to get herself to relax but that just wasn't going to happen because she knew she wouldn't have been called into the doctor's office after her test just so he could say how awesome everything was. Doctors didn't do that and obviously, something must be wrong for her to be in here. Really wrong.

But how could it be? Wouldn't she feel it if something was wrong? She was too young for something to be wrong. Isn't that what people said all of the time? _Oh, you're so young and healthy…_ She still sometimes felt like she was twenty-two years old and not at all like she was a mother to three kids. And wasn't that how she was supposed to feel? She felt young and healthy and she had the best life. She took care of herself and her family and she really wished Dr. Stookey would stop smiling.

"Beth, there was an abnormality on your results," he finally cut to the chase.

Her heart dropped though she supposed she had been expecting him to say something like that to her. "Abnormality?" She echoed the word in a whisper, all sound dropping out around her. It was as if she had gone temporarily deaf.

She didn't hear the clock ticking on the wall. The sound of one of the nurses walking down the hall on the other side of the closed door. The sound of a car honking outside. It was a beautiful spring day and she didn't hear the birds singing. She didn't even feel the warmth of the sun shining in through the windows.

Abnormality.

That had to be the ugliest word she had ever heard spoken in the English language.

"I don't want you to worry, Beth. These types of things happen all of the time with many women," Dr. Stookey was quick to add but Beth barely heard his words. They were murmured, spoken under a foot of water and all she heard was a dull thrum in her ears. "I've already talked with Carol and we've scheduled you for another test first thing on Friday morning. How does that sound?" He asked as if he was inviting her over for dinner. So casual and still smiling about the whole damn thing and Beth felt like she was caving into herself.

She confirmed the appointment with Carol outside at the receptionist desk and she gave her a comforting smile as if she knew what had just happened though she possibly couldn't have known. Besides herself and Dr. Stookey, Daryl would be the only other one to know because she had to tell Daryl. Tell him what though? Abnormality. That meant absolutely nothing because it could mean so many things.

Beth didn't remember getting into the car or driving home or getting back out of the car and going inside. The house was quiet. She had gotten the afternoon off for her appointment and the boys were still in school and Abby was still at the daycare and Daryl would be collecting all of them that evening to bring them home.

She slowly climbed the stairs and turned into hers and Daryl's bedroom. She removed her cardigan and her shoes, leaving them all on the floor where they fell, and she crawled onto the bed. The window across from her was open and as she laid on her side, hugging the pillow to her cheek, she felt the cool breeze floating across her skin. She didn't cry. She was shocked she didn't cry. But perhaps she felt no tears stinging her eyes yet because she still couldn't fully comprehend what was going on.

Maybe she was still sleeping. She was still sleeping and any moment, the alarm would go off and Daryl would grumble before turning it off and sitting up. He kissed her on the head almost every morning before getting out of bed and she closed her eyes now, waiting to feel his lips because she was still asleep. She had to still be.

But instead of the alarm, she heard a truck outside and then a few moments later, the front door banged open downstairs and the kids ran in. Hunter was yelling about something – laughter in his voice – and Daryl was telling him to knock it off while Luke was telling him to shut up. She then heard a dull thud and she knew it was the boys knocking one another down onto the hard floor. There was a squeal of laughter from Abby, always entertained by her older brothers no matter what they did, and Daryl told them that if one of them cracked their heads open, they would have to stitch it back up themselves.

Beth told herself to get up and go downstairs and smile and greet her family and ask all of them how their days were but she couldn't quite get herself to and so she remained lying on the bed, staring across from her to the window and the white curtains that were gently waving in the breeze.

She heard the creak of stairs and then moments later, Daryl was in the bedroom.

"Hey," he said and his voice was soft as if he already knew but she knew he didn't and it was only because she was lying on their bed. he wasn't an idiot and he knew her and obviously, something must have happened for her to be like this.

Daryl. What would Daryl do? She knew that if anything ever happened to him, she would absolutely crumble but hopefully, she would still be able to take care of their kids. Would Daryl be the same? She had been with Daryl since she was twenty-one, marrying him when she was twenty-two and she had built this entire life with him and it was impossible to imagine anything tomorrow or beyond that without him.

He crawled onto the bed behind her and then his arm was heavy as it draped over her hip. She moved her hand and found his, her fingers linking with his, grasping it. He said nothing and waited for her to. And she knew she would have to.

"I have to go back to the doctor on Friday," she said and her voice sounded raw as if she had been crying for hours even though her face and eyes were both dry.

"How come?" His voice was rougher than usual – low and quiet – and she closed her eyes as she felt his warm breath against the back of her neck. She wanted to just burrow herself closer to him so that's what she did. Her back nestled further against his chest and his arm tightened around her.

"Dr. Stookey said…" she swallowed because now that she was going to say it out loud in her own voice, she could feel the burning in her throat. "He found an abnormality in my pap smear results."

She didn't have to look at him to know he was frowning. She could hear it.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Daryl all but growled.

Beth shrugged a shoulder. "It means I have to go back on Friday for another test. I don't know," she then shook her head and closed her eyes. "It's in the morning so you'll have to get the kids out of here on your own."

"I'm comin' with you," he said, still frowning, and that made Beth turn her head on the pillow and look up at him.

He wasn't just frowning. He was scowling – his face twisted and dark – but his eyes, she was the only one who knew how to read his eyes. And right now, he was terrified. He couldn't hide that from her no matter what the rest of his face wanted to show to her.

"We'll call your mom or Maggie and they'll help with the kids," he continued.

And she didn't realize how badly she had wanted him to be with her on Friday because when he made the suggestion, she felt a relief in her chest and she nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered. "He said abnormalities are actually normal on these types of tests and that there's no reason to worry yet."

"Yet," he grumbled out the word as if it was something bitter tasting on his tongue. His eyes fell back to her and he stared at her for a moment. "You're gonna be fine. You're fine right now."

Beth nodded and didn't say anything because she honestly had nothing to say. She would think her brain would be going a mile a minute, thinking of every single possible outcome of what could happen but instead, her mind was completely blank.

"Dinner… we need to eat," she said but when she began to sit up, Daryl's arm was over her stomach, keeping her in place.

"Nah. We'll go out," Daryl shook his head, hair falling in his eye. "You ain't gonna do anything."

"Daryl," Beth lifted her hand and brushed that hair back. "We can't do this. We have to still go about things like everything is normal."

"But it ain't and who says we have to act like it is?" He was back to frowning.

She didn't have a response to that so she didn't say anything. She looked up at him and he looked down at her and neither of them said anything and she finally had to close her eyes because the longer she looked at him, the more she wanted to cry. She felt him move and his breath was on her face and then his lips were brushing across her forehead. She exhaled a shaky breath and she lifted her hands to the sides of his neck and without opening her eyes still, she found his lips and kissed him harder than either of them were expecting.

"Mama!" They heard Hunter running up the stairs and then he burst into the bedroom. "Eww," he then whined at the sight of his parents kissing as he always did.

Daryl pulled away and looked at him with a frown. "What do you want?"

"Dinner," he answered truthfully.

Daryl looked back down to Beth. "I'll make spaghetti," he said and she sat up as he pulled himself from the bed. "You kill your brother?" He asked Hunter as he put a hand on the boy's head and guided him from the room.

"No," Hunter pouted as if he was disappointed.

Daryl made spaghetti and garlic bread and as they ate their dinner around the table in the kitchen, Luke was talking all about his upcoming art show at school and the piece he was working on and Hunter was talking about how he was the only boy brave enough to climb to the top of the jungle gym at recess and Beth listened to every word each of them said, asking questions and making comments and every time she moved her eyes to Daryl across from her, she saw that he was looking at her. She gave him small smiles – smiles he didn't return – but when dinner was done and the boys had carried the dishes to the sink and Beth began scooping leftovers into plastic containers, she felt Daryl come behind her. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her and didn't say anything and didn't let her go.

…

She remembered being here before. When she had taken a pregnancy test and they had come to confirm it. They sat in Dr. Stookey's waiting room and Daryl's knee was bouncing up and down much like it was now and like she had done then, Beth reached over and rested her hand on it, trying to get it to stop. Daryl placed his hand over hers and linked their fingers together and he squeezed. She rested her head on his shoulder and neither of them said anything – the only sounds being the ticking of the clock and Carol's fingers clacking away on the computer's keyboard.

Both of her parents were able to come that morning and help with the kids and Annette had tried to get Beth to eat some breakfast, thinking if she had food in her stomach, she would feel better. But the thought of any food made her nauseous and she sat there now, feeling her stomach roll over again and again.

The door opened and Dr. Stookey himself stood there instead of Karen his nurse. "Beth? I'm all ready for you," he said, that same smile across his face as if Beth was here just to talk about the weather with him.

Beth and Daryl both stood up, Daryl still holding her hand tightly.

"Just need Beth right now, Daryl. I'll come and get you when we're done so we can discuss it in my office," he said.

Daryl didn't say anything but Beth looked at him and knew he wasn't happy about it. She took her hands and lifted them to his cheeks. He looked just as tired as she knew she did. Neither one of them had been getting that much sleep.

"See you in a little bit," she said to him quietly, and he stared down at her, his hands grasping her hips tightly.

He nodded and without a word, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her right there in the middle of the waiting room and not caring who was around to see and Beth tried to give him another smile though honestly, Daryl so willing to partake in open displays of affection with her terrified as much as any test. It was just so out of the ordinary for him and not at all what they did and was he preparing himself for the worst, too?

Back in the examination room, she changed into the gown and laid on the table with her feet in the stirrups and she closed her eyes and tried to remember to keep breathing as Dr. Stookey administered the test. He tried to distract her – asking her about the kids – but Beth could hardly answer, And it felt like hours again before the doctor stood up, still with that smile, and told her that she could get dressed now.

Daryl was already in the office and he stood up the instant she entered.

"How'd it go?" He asked and she smelled cigarettes on his breath. He must have gone outside for a smoke while she had been in there.

"He said he'll be here in a few minutes," Beth said, digging around for something in her purse. She pulled out a tin of mints and Daryl smirked when she handed them to him. He popped one into her mouth and she finally felt herself give an actual smile.

They sat down in the two chairs side by side and his knee was back to bouncing. Again, the only sound was the ticking clock. She and Daryl didn't say anything, both too caught up in their own thoughts for the moment. Their heads both turned at the same time when the door entered and a smiling Dr. Stookey entered.

"Hello, Dixons," he went and sat behind his desk, his eyes never leaving them. "Well, this test turned out just fine. No abnormalities whatsoever. No infection or inflammation and definitely no cancer. I guess we just didn't get enough cells the first time around. You're as right as rain. Everything else looks good. You're a very healthy woman, Beth."

Beth stared at him because that was it? Not enough cells? She had been driving herself crazy for the past couple of days, convinced she was dying. She couldn't say anything. Her heart was racing and her stomach was twisting and yet, the pressure in her chest had already instantly lessened.

All of that buildup for just a whimper.

She looked to Daryl and expected him to grunt something or ask something or say something rude and abrupt but instead, he just turned his head and looked at her. She smiled and it was a real smile and she almost wanted to laugh because she felt how exhausted she was.

Daryl didn't say anything still. Instead, he gave her his own small smile and then with a hand on the back of her head, he pulled her in for a kiss – again, not caring about an audience.

And Beth didn't care either because she was as right as rain. Everything was.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	10. Egg

…

**Chapter Ten**. Egg.

Just like he said he would do, as soon as they stepped out of the church at the end of service, Hunter ripped the tie off from around his neck that his mom had made him wear that morning and she had promised him that he could take it off as soon as they were done with church. With a scowl but without a word, he handed it to her and Beth gave him a smile before kissing him on the head.

"You are such a baby," Luke snickered from behind him.

"'Cause I don't like wearing a noose around my neck?" Hunter frowned at him.

"We all have to do things we don't want to do. Right, dad?" Luke looked to Daryl as he walked behind them with Abby in his arms.

Daryl was wearing black slacks and a white button down shirt with a black tie under a black sweater. He nodded. "That's right," he said.

Beth reached out and swatted Daryl in the arm. "Don't tell them that. You boys all look very handsome and dressing up for a few hours on an important day like this won't kill any of you."

The people were flooding from the church and heading towards the large grounds in the back that the church sat on. Every year, after Easter service, there was a large lunch for everyone and an egg hunt for the children. Beth spotted her mother already helping some of the other women bring food from the church kitchen to the tables spread out throughout the grass and she turned to Daryl.

"Have fun. See you in a little bit," she said and kissed Abby's cheek before she broke away from her family and headed towards Annette.

Daryl watched her go and then looked back to the boys. "Ready for the hunt?"

"Always are," Hunter grinned proudly.

The past couple of years, he and Luke seemed to find more Easter eggs than anyone – much to the envy of some of the other kids. Hunter loved being the best at things and rubbing it in other's faces though his mama often told him that he shouldn't gloat and being too prideful was a sin. Hunter didn't understand though. If he was the best at something, everyone should know it. And all mama said to that was that he should pay more attention when he was in Sunday school.

Daryl bent down and set Abby on her feet. "Watch out for her and don't get yourselves killed," he said as Luke reached down and took Abby's hand in his. "If you need me, I'll be over there with Sherriff Grimes and Mr. Douglas," he said, pointing to where Rick and T-Dog had already settled themselves at a picnic table with a couple of bottles of beer. "'member. Don't go too far in the woods. They don't put the eggs in that deep so there's no reason for you to. Your mama will hold me directly responsible if the three of you get poison oak." Hunter's lips began upturning into a grin and Daryl looked at him. "And don't go lookin' for poison oak just to get me in trouble," he said, reading his son's mind.

Like Beth did, Daryl kissed Abby on the head and he left them then, heading towards his friends and leaving the three kids alone – which was just the way they wanted it when it came to the hunt.

"Let's go get our baskets," Luke said, walking himself and Abby over to the table where Father Gabriel sat, a wide smile on his face as he handed one of the baskets to one of the little girls.

"Ah. The Dixon boys. Ready to find some of God's treasures this morning?" Father Gabriel asked as he handed them to baskets, Luke immediately handing his to Abby.

"It's not God's treasures. It's chocolate. And it's all ours," Hunter said with a gleam in his eyes and his lips practically smacking together.

"Everything is God's treasures, Hunter," Father Gabriel reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah," Hunter muttered and Luke elbowed him in the side as they walked away from the table and headed past the eating area.

"You gotta stop doing that," Luke frowned at him. "I don't feel like Father Gabriel talking to mom and dad. Mom'll force us to sit through one of the man's lectures."

And though Hunter frowned at him for elbowing him, he nodded his head in agreement. There was no punishment worse than having Father Gabriel lecture them. Hunter hated listening to the man talk. It was bad enough when they came to service every Sunday and had to listen to him then. Anything more was torture.

"There's Mika," Luke said, spotting the girl on the other side of the baseball diamond. He looked to Hunter. "You mind watching Abby for a little bit? I'm gonna go talk to her."

Hunter took his baby sister's hand while smirking at Luke. "Thought you two broke up," he said.

Luke frowned. "We didn't break up. I'm really busy with the art show and she's really busy with science club. We're just taking a break."

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Hunter said and broke into a grin when Luke smacked him up the back of the head before walking away from them. He looked down to Abby and she tilted her head up, smiling at him. "Ready to find some eggs, Abby?" He asked.

"Egg!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Hunter found a blue colored plastic egg sitting by the third base right away. He snorted as he put it in Abby's basket. Did these people even try to hide them?

He walked Abby over to the second base next and sure enough, there was another one. And another on the pitcher's mound. And were the other kids even trying to find these? All of these eggs just sitting out in the open like this and he was going to take them all.

"Egg!" Abby exclaimed, pointing her finger, and Hunter followed. Sure enough, there was an egg in the grass next to the metal bleach stands.

"Awesome job, Abs," he said, dropping her hand to go and fetch it and when he came back, he dropped that one into her basket as well. "Look for more."

His sister might have only been three but if she knew one thing, it was eggs and if he knew one thing, it was chocolate. He wished Luke would get back here because if there was one thing his older brother knew, it was hunting. With the three of them, they could be unstoppable. But no. Luke had to go flirt with his little girlfriend and wear a tie and be completely useless to him.

It was like setting a bloodhound loose. As soon as he told Abby to look for more, she was off, leaving the baseball field and heading towards the picnic tables. Hunter wanted to tell her that they never put the eggs close like this to the other people but he didn't. He just watched her go and followed and when she pointed, sure enough, he saw an egg next to the big bowl of potato salad set out on the buffet table.

Hunter laughed and snatched it up and when he turned back to Abby, she was already off again. He didn't question her this time as he followed behind. She stopped at one of the pecan trees and pointed. There, balanced carefully throughout the branches, were three eggs.

"Alright, Abs!" Hunter exclaimed and quickly gathered those eggs, putting them into the basket with the others. "This is gonna be our best year yet," he grinned at her and Abby beamed at him in return.

She looked around for a moment. "Egg!" She pointed but this time, she was pointing towards Daryl and Hunter shook his head. Abby used 'egg' for several different things and even though she knew the word 'daddy', it wasn't weird for her to say that while pointing towards either of their parents.

"No, Abby. That's dad," Hunter shook his head but Abby ignored him and set off.

Daryl had just taken a sip of beer when he turned his head and saw two of his three kids approaching them. He began to stand up, thinking they needed him, but Abby didn't look at him as she dropped to her knees, subsequently getting grass stains on her white tights. She crawled past Daryl and beneath the bench of the picnic table.

"What are you makin' her do?" Daryl asked, looking to Hunter.

"You should take her hunting with you, dad," Hunter said. "It would be awesome."

Abby crawled out from under the table where she had found a yellow egg next to T-Dog's shoe. "Egg!" She exclaimed and Hunter laughed as she stood up, dropping it in the basket. She looked to Daryl and smiled and then hugged one of his legs. Daryl smiled a little but before he could even pat her on the head, Abby was gone, off again, and Hunter happily followed behind.

Daryl shook his head and sat back down. "I think he's treatin' his sister like a dog."

Rick smiled a little at that and took a swig of his beer. "Judith still treats Carl like a horse. I think most siblings go through an animal phase with each other."

Rick looked back to T-Dog and the two men began their conversation again about baseball season and Daryl had never been into sports so he just sat and listened and drank his beer while seeing Abby and Hunter from the corner of his eye.

Abby led them to the back of the church and Hunter could see her eyes were on a sharp lookout. He found himself an egg beneath the steps and he quickly grabbed it because it was hot pink and he couldn't believe no one else had spotted it before him. Abby dropped to her knees again and reached her hand in the downspout. Hunter crouched down beside her and watched her for a moment. She pulled back her hand with a huff and frown and no egg. She looked at Hunter and pointed to the spout and Hunter nodded, kneeling down in front of it. There was a bright green egg but Abby had pushed it further back and hadn't been able to reach it.

He tried to stretch his fingers as far as he could but he still couldn't reach it and his entire hand wouldn't fit inside of the spout. They'd have to get a stick or something.

"You're cheating."

Hunter looked up at the voice, his eyes squinting in the sun. He sighed when he saw who it was. Billy Hardy. A boy two grades above him and a bully through and through but even if he wasn't a bully, Hunter wouldn't have been able to stand him. He was fat and sloppy and just because his daddy was the dentist in town, Billy thought he was better than most of them.

Hunter stood up with a glare and a set in his jaw. "Just jealous because I'm finding all of the eggs before you?" He asked.

"I'm not jealous of cheaters. We don't all have retarded sisters who can find every egg like a freak," Billy sneered.

Hunter felt everything in his body go absolutely still. He stared at Billy for a moment. "What did you say?" He said in a low voice, his body tensing and his hand curling into a fist.

"I said you're a cheater and your sister's retarded," Billy said with a smile.

Hunter knew that he shouldn't fight – especially on Easter Sunday while at church and he could only imagine how angry his mama was going to be but he wanted to punch that stupid smile right off Billy Hardy's face so that was exactly what he did.

Hunter was only seven and Billy was older and bigger but Hunter was small and quick and when he punched Billy in the face, the boy was completely caught off guard. When he fell on the ground with a thud, Hunter followed after him.

In the back of his mind, he could hear Abby crying and calling out for mama but Hunter didn't stop. He punched Billy over and over again until someone was physically pulling him off.

He tried to squirm out of the hold but Daryl just tightened his arms around him and carried him off through the crowd that had gathered, walking around the side of the church, heading towards the front. Hunter was panting and his hands were throbbing and he suddenly felt completely exhausted.

"Easy, Hunter," Daryl was saying to him in a low, calm voice as if Hunter was a doe he didn't want to scare off. "Jus' breathe. You're fine."

Hunter sagged in his dad's arms and Daryl didn't let him go as he stood on the sidewalk, shushing him and telling him to calm down. Hunter heard someone else approach and he turned his head to see that it was Beth, Abby in her arms. The little girl had been crying but now her head was on Beth's shoulders and her cheeks were wet but there were no more tears. Hunter expected Beth to start lecturing him right away but all she did was reach out and touch his tender knuckles.

"Let's get Luke and we'll go home," she said but Luke was already there, coming up to stand beside her. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking guilty.

"Come on," Daryl said. He gave his arms a squeeze and then lowered Hunter to his feet on the ground.

"He called Abby retarded," Hunter spat out, calm but just thinking about stupid Billy Hardy and what he had said, he started feeling angry all over again.

"Come on. We'll go home," Beth said again and that was all she said and Daryl didn't say anything as they headed towards their truck in the parking lot.

The ride home was silent and once Daryl pulled up their dirt drive, Beth looked back at Hunter in the backseat.

"We'll go to the bathroom and I'll take care of your knuckles," she said and he nodded, getting out of the truck and trudging slowly up the stairs as if heading to his own execution.

The phone began ringing and Daryl went to go answer it as Beth followed Hunter up the stairs and into the bathroom all of the kids shared. She closed the toilet lid so he could sit on it and she sifted through the medicine cabinet for a moment before gathering a bottle of antiseptic and some cotton balls, coming to kneel in front of him. He sucked in air through his clenched teeth as the medicine stung his open cuts and Beth blew gentle air on it.

Hunter released a breath. "I'm sorry I ruined Easter."

"You didn't ruin Easter," Beth shook her head. "What Billy Hardy said was cruel and untrue and your sister is lucky to have a brother like you so quick to defend her. But Hunter," she paused in cleaning his knuckles and looked at him. "There are other ways to defend her than punching."

Hunter nodded because he knew that even if he thought punching Billy Hardy was the only thing that kid deserved. "Has dad ever punched someone to defend you?"

Beth was quiet for a moment and he watched as a soft smile spread across her lips. "Once," she answered. "A long time ago. And I was so angry at him for it but then…" she trailed off and shook her head as if clearing the memory as she looked back to Hunter. "No more punching."

"But why did dad punch someone?" Hunter asked, sounding a little excited.

Beth shook her head again, obviously trying to bite back a smile because she did want her son to think that punching people was ever an okay thing to do.

"He was defending me just like you were defending Abby but Hunter," she said and her voice became stern. "No more punching. Your dad doesn't go around punching anyone he feels like it, does he?"

Hunter shook his head. He had barely seen his dad yell at someone.

"Hey."

They both turned their heads to see Daryl standing in the bathroom doorway.

"That was your mom. They're gonna to bring us some food from the picnic so we can eat," he said. "How are the knuckles?" He then asked Hunter.

"He'll live," Beth said, finishing up and then standing to throw the cotton balls out and Hunter slid off the toilet. "Tell your son that it's not alright to punch someone."

"Of course it ain't alright," Daryl frowned a little. "No matter how bad that kid deserved it, talkin' 'bout your sister like that."

"He was just jealous that me and Abby were winning the egg hunt," Hunter said.

"That's somethin' else your grandma wanted me to say," Daryl said. "You and Abby won the hunt this year. More eggs in your basket than in anyone else's."

Hunter smirked a little. "Of course we won," he said as he sauntered out of the bathroom.

Daryl couldn't help but smirk as he looked back to Beth. "Me punchin' Jimmy still turns you on after all this time?" He asked, having heard from the hallway.

Beth smiled and felt her cheeks blush. She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe a little," she said though they both knew the truth and the truth was that it definitely did.

A lot.

…

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***added author's note: I have not written Daryl punching Jimmy. This was just a shared memory between Beth and Daryl that many people have been asking for i.e. jealous Daryl. I will write this scene as an eventual one-shot. **

**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	11. Paper

**I can't tell you how excited I was to write this chapter. **

* * *

…

**Chapter Eleven. **Paper.

"Mama!" Hunter exclaimed for the fifth time in as many minutes.

They were still in the first aisle of the Aldi grocery store and Beth looked up from her list to see what he was holding up this time. A big tub of pretzel sticks. She looked at it for a moment and then up at the price. Without a word, she nodded and Hunter grinned widely as he put the tub down in the cart and then turned, on the lookout for his next request. Beth could just imagine what it would be. The boxes of fruit snacks and packages of cookies were also in this aisle, up ahead.

Luke was in front of them, Abby on his back, giving her a piggyback ride and her delighted laughter echoed throughout the nearly empty store. The Dixons were all early risers and when Beth had said that Saturday morning over breakfast that she had to go to the grocery store, Luke and Hunter had asked if they could come, too. Aldi opened at seven and they were there by eight – one of the few people in there besides the few still bleary-eyed and yawning workers.

"Mama!" Hunter exclaimed again, holding up a package of vanilla pudding cups.

"No, butterscotch," Luke said, coming up beside him.

"Vanilla, butterscotch and chocolate," Beth said, all three written on her shopping list. All of the kids – and Daryl – loved pudding and they seemed to go through a ton of it every week no matter how much she bought to stock up on.

She stopped at the boxes of cereal, looking over each one, trying to decide which two she should buy for the week when she heard a woman standing at the milk cases, a swift curse word leaving her mouth as she fumbled with the door and the two gallons of milk in her hands. Beth looked to Luke and gave him a slight head tilt.

He nodded and keeping one arm under Abby's knee, he went to the cooler door to hold it open for the woman.

"Thanks," the woman said, turning and pushing the hair out of her face as she and Luke looked at one another.

It all happened in slow motion. Luke looked into the woman's face and felt himself stumble a step backwards before he regained himself and gripped Abby's legs. The woman gasped and both of the gallons fell from her arms and onto the floor, one bursting open and milk spilling everywhere. Hunter exclaimed "Cool!" but no one seemed to hear him as Luke and the woman stared at one another and Beth felt her own heart slow as she recognized the woman and then it rapidly began picking up speed, beating at a speed that was almost hurting her chest.

"Luke?" The woman then said in a whisper, her voice trembling as if frightened.

Luke quickly took another step back as if hearing his name from her lips had physically harmed him. He quickly turned back towards Beth, his eyes slightly wide and she could see he was afraid and had no idea what to do.

Hunter's own smile faded as he looked between his mama, his brother and the woman in front of the milk coolers, all staring at one another, all white and looking as if they had all just seen a ghost. And then he frowned because he hadn't seen anything and he wanted to see a ghost, too. His brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to ask what was going on but before he could, Beth quickly spoke.

"Luke," she said his name, her tone slightly sharp though she didn't mean for it to be. Her heart wouldn't slow down. "Take your brother and sister and go and pick out what ice cream flavor you kids want."

Luke didn't argue. Instead, he released a breath he had been holding as if relieved and then grabbing Hunter's sleeve, he tugged him along as they began walking to the other side of the store where the freezers were, Hunter's questions of what was going on clear to all of their ears.

Beth stared at the woman. It had been years since she had last laid physical eyes on her. Luke had been four at the time and Valerie Ridgeway had come to pick her son up at the daycare center at the end of the day. She had been all bones and ashy skin. Her face had been pot-marked and her teeth had been practically rotted by her meth use with her hair greasy and tangled. Beth had always been a bit uneasy around her though she tried her hardest to act nothing but polite around her and every day, the hardest thing she had to do was hand Luke over to her so he could go home. She was his mother though and it wasn't like Beth could keep him for herself.

The best thing to ever happen to Luke was when Valerie and his dad, Mark Ridgeway, got arrested and sentenced to prison. Beth and Daryl were able to become Luke's legal guardians and then, after some convincing, Valerie signed away her parental rights so they could adopt him and he could be their son in truth.

Beth honestly hadn't thought of either of Luke's biological parents in years. She had never really had a reason to. They were gone and Luke was a Dixon now and all that mattered to her was that he had a good, happy life. She knew Valeria hadn't gotten that long of a sentence. Five years? Seven? She couldn't remember the exact number but even then, even though they had all lived in the same town, she had never expected to see Valerie Ridgeway again.

She watched as Valerie's head turned and she watched Luke walk away. Valerie had not been a good mother. She had beaten and starved her son when she wasn't completely forgetting about his existence. No. Not her son. Luke was a Dixon. He was the son of Daryl and Beth Dixon and no one could take him away from them.

Valerie looked to Beth and her eyes were wet with unshed tears. "He looks just like his dad did when he was younger," she said.

Beth almost cringed at that. She didn't want to think of Luke looking like Mark Ridgeway. If his wife had been a bad person, Mark had been one of the worst and Beth didn't want to think of Luke having a single thing in common with a Ridgeway besides the blood they unfortunately shared. And besides all of that, Daryl was his dad now. Mark had never been a dad to him in any sense of the word.

"How is he?" Valerie asked.

Beth felt her throat thicken. Valerie looked different. She looked tired and older than she probably should have but her years in prison had definitely changed her. Beth could tell. This woman was clean now. Beth couldn't help but glance in the direction the three children had gone in though she couldn't see them before her eyes slowly went back to Valerie.

She gave a slight nod. "He's good. He's… he's really good," she said in a soft voice.

Valerie nodded her own head. "Good." And it almost sounded like saying that pained her; as if she had wanted to see Luke as a Dixon and to see that he was suffering as much as he when he was a Ridgeway. "He looks, he looks really healthy."

"He is. He and his brother eat like horses," Beth said and she didn't miss the way Valerie flinched at that. Both at the reminder that Luke had a brother but that also, Luke was living with people who actually fed him.

"Mama!" Hunter shouted from the other side of the store.

"I'm staying with a friend. A _clean_ friend," Valerie was quick to add. "And a couple of her kids," she said and then looked down to the milk on the floor. A teenage boy had arrived with a mop and was now cleaning up the spilled milk. "And I've got a job working in the high school cafeteria," Valerie looked to Beth again and Beth couldn't help but stiffen because she had a feeling as to why Valerie was telling her all of this.

In her mind, she knew Valerie had no legal standing anymore. Beth knew that she was Luke's mom. Not Valerie. She hadn't been his mom since the day he was born and Beth wondered how Luke had actually survived infancy. But he had and he had been a Dixon for years now and Beth loved him more than anything in the world. None of the Ridgeways would ever get themselves anywhere near her son again.

But… Valerie was looking at her with green eyes that looked just like Luke's and she was clean and Beth remembered when her daddy had been going to AA meetings so many years ago and the steps he had to go through and one of those steps were fixing past mistakes. She could just imagine how many mistakes Valerie had made in her life and Beth couldn't begrudge a woman for getting herself clean and wanting to set a few things right. Could she?

Beth felt her stomach twisting. She had no idea what the right answer was to that.

"Mama!" Hunter yelled again clear across the store.

"It would be up to Luke," Beth heard herself say to the question Valerie hadn't asked.

Valerie nodded, visibly swallowing. "I'm… Here." She was quick to search through her pockets and she pulled out a crumpled Burger King receipt. "Do you have a pen?" She asked the stock boy and he pulled one out of the pocket of his smock. Valerie quickly wrote something down and then stepped forward, extending it to Beth, who took it, looking down at the seven numbers. "When, _if_," she quickly corrected herself. "If he wants to meet me anywhere, anytime, that's my number."

Beth nodded and didn't know what to say so she didn't say anything. She carefully folded the receipt and put it into her purse.

"Thank you, Beth," Valerie said and Beth couldn't help but be a little surprised as if she hadn't expected Valerie to know her name.

Beth still didn't know what to say so she nodded again before pushing her cart and heading across the store towards the freezers where the three kids were. Hunter was holding two different boxes of popsicles.

"Can we get these, too?" He asked eagerly.

"Just one," Beth said, regaining herself. She looked to Luke.

He was no longer holding Abby on his back and stood in front of the freezer doors, staring at the tubs of ice cream, pretending to study the selection. She could see the slight twitching in his face from his jaw being clenched so hard and she went to him, reaching a hand out and brushing some of his golden hair from his forehead. He didn't flinch and she realized that she had been worried that he would; as if seeing his birth mom would regress him back to the four-year-old boy he had been before he had come to live with Daryl and her.

"We'll talk about it with dad tonight," she told him softly and he nodded.

He didn't look at her or say anything and she put an arm around his shoulders, kissing his head and normally, she wouldn't do that because he was reaching that sensitive age of being embarrassed by everything but she couldn't help herself and Luke didn't seem to mind right now.

"Which ice cream?" She asked, desperate to change the subject and wanting to distract both of them from Valerie Ridgeway being in the same store as them.

Luke was quiet for a moment and then without a word, he opened the freezer door and pulled out a tub of butter pecan ice cream. They were able to do the rest of their shopping in the small store without running into Valerie again and when they got home, Luke and Hunter helped her carry the groceries in through the back door into the kitchen. Daryl was nowhere to be found – nowhere in the house or in his woodshop out back and she knew that he was probably out in the woods somewhere. The receipt in her purse with Valerie's phone number written on it felt as if she was carrying around a rock and she didn't know how she would tell Daryl; had no idea how he would react to the news of running into Luke's birth mother.

Without a word, Luke went outside and Beth knew he was going up into his tree house that was in the tree in the front of the house. She didn't bother him for hours but when it began to drizzle and the temperature dropped that afternoon, she couldn't just let him stay out there. She grabbed her sweater and a sweatshirt for him and stood on the front porch, looking up at the tree.

"Luke!" She called out. "Come on!"

She saw a figure off in the distance and knew that it was Daryl, coming home, his crossbow on his back and a couple of animals she couldn't make out dangling from his belt. She looked up when she saw Luke climb down the rope and he came up the steps of the porch with a frown. She handed him his sweatshirt and he tugged it on but neither of them moved to go inside. The rain began falling a little heavier now and it pounded the porch roof above their heads.

"I'm not going to see her!" Luke suddenly exclaimed.

"You don't have to," Beth shook her head, keeping her voice gentle and calm. "I told her that it would be completely up to you. Your dad and me aren't going to make you do anything, Luke."

"Do what?" Daryl stepped onto the porch, shaking his hair out like a dog.

Luke shoved his hands in the front pouch of his sweatshirt and stared down at the ground, not saying anything. Daryl looked at him for a moment and then looked to Beth, a crease of confusion between his eyebrows.

"We ran into Valerie in Aldi this morning," Beth told him as simply as she could though nothing about this situation could possibly be simple. Or maybe it could be because if Luke didn't want to see her, they weren't going to force him to. It was entirely up to him and if he had no desire to see her, why would they make him? She had beat him and abused him and starved him. Valerie was from a life that wasn't his anymore. Luke was a Dixon. Not a Ridgeway. He had absolutely no connection to the woman in the grocery store anymore.

It took Daryl not even a second for him to remember who Valerie was. Like Beth, he hadn't thought of the woman in years. He had no reason to. She was no one. But now, just hearing her first name, he felt the blood feel a little warmer as it pumped through his veins and his jaw clenched much like Luke's had in the store. They may not have made him scientifically speaking but so many of Luke's mannerisms were ones he had picked up from Beth and Daryl throughout the years. He was theirs.

"I'm not going to see her," Luke said again and he almost sounded calm but Beth and Daryl both knew that tone. It was like the calm before the storm. He looked back and forth between both of them before his eyes settled on Beth.

"We are not saying you have to, Luke," Beth reminded him. "You never have to see her if you don't want to. _Of course_ you don't have to ever see her."

"Good." And with that, Luke stomped past them and into the house.

Beth watched him go and when she turned her head, she saw Daryl looking at her.

She tucked hair behind her ears and without a word, she went into the house as well. She was only gone a couple of minutes and she came back out onto the porch with a towel in her hand. Daryl was sitting down on the top step, cleaning one of the squirrels. He knew she hated when he cleaned the animals right in front of their house like this but she knew that he needed something to do with his hands right that second and he would clean it all up, the rain helping wash the blood away. He must have gone for a walk rather than a hunt because he wouldn't have gone out just for a couple of squirrels.

She sat down beside him and taking a towel, she began rubbing it over his wet hair.

"How she look?" Daryl grunted out, surprising her because she hadn't been expecting him to talk at least for a few more minutes.

"Clean," she said. "I don't know how long she's been clean but it's obvious she is. She told me she has a job in the high school cafeteria. It sounds like she's trying."

Daryl nodded but didn't say anything as he carefully maneuvered his knife, staring down at his work though he could gut and clean an animal blindfolded if he had to.

"Valerie said that Luke looks like his dad and I couldn't help but get so upset," she confessed quietly and Daryl paused in his work to look at her. "Because I hear dad and I think of you. Not… Mark," she swallowed once she said the name as if it was setting off her bile reflex. "You're his dad, Daryl. I don't want to think of him as a Ridgeway. Never a Ridgeway," she began shaking her head and she couldn't help the tears that stung her eyes.

Daryl took the towel from her hand and wiping at his own, cleaning off the dirt and blood as best as he could, he slid his arm around her back, pulling her in close to his side and Beth nestled against him.

"I'm his dad and you're his mom, Beth, and it's not just 'cause we've got a piece of paper sayin' that," Daryl said and Beth nodded her head because she knew it was true. She supposed she just really needed to hear it. "And to be honest, I think when people first meet us, they never think Luke's adopted. I think you two look alike."

Beth looked at him, not having known that. "You do?"

Daryl nodded. "And I think Luke likes to think that, too."

Beth sighed softly at that and she leaned into him, pressing her face to the side of his throat, and Daryl tightened his arm around her.

"Sorry I wasn' there this mornin'," he then said quietly.

"There's no reason to apologize," Beth responded in a soft voice. "I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. I just never thought about it." She sighed again. "I just hope Valerie doesn't try to approach him on her own."

Daryl frowned at the thought, having not thought of that possibility either. "Me and Merle can go talk with her."

"No," Beth pulled her head back and frowned at him. "I don't even want to think about what it means when you _and_ your brother go to talk with someone. I don't know how long she's been out but she hasn't come to find Luke yet…"

He shrugged. "No one is comin' near my family and makin' any of you uncomfortable. If I need to tell Valerie myself that Luke wants nothin' to do with her, then that's what I'll do."

Beth sighed but she didn't say anything because again, just like in the store, she wasn't entirely too sure what to say. She didn't say anything and instead, she rested her head on his arm as he began cleaning the squirrels – finishing one and starting the other and the rain began falling a little bit harder.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	12. Speak

**I have really missed this story and this little world. Luke and Hunter each got their own chapters and now, for Abby.**

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…

**Chapter Twelve. **Speak.

"What are you doing, Ms. Abby?" Beth asked, smiling and smoothing a hand over the little girl's head as she sat down in the small chair at the small table her daughter was sitting at, a red crayon in her hand.

"Egg," Abby declared with pride, her smile wide as she pointed to the bird she was coloring in one of the daycare's dozen of coloring books.

Beth kept smiling. "No, not egg, Abby. What is this?" She asked, pointing to the drawing and keeping her eyes on Abby.

And her smile remained patient as her daughter stared down at what she's drawing. She knew Abby knew this. She knew she did. She also knew that Abby just needed a little bit of time before her brain and tongue met with one another in the middle and worked together.

She tried not to worry. Yes, her daughter was almost four-years-old and was having such difficulty with speech while the other kids her age at the daycare couldn't seem to stop talking throughout the day – their vocabulary, while still limited, surpassed Abby's. She told herself not to worry because Daryl didn't seem to be worried about it at all. He had told her that he had been a late talker and even after that, when he could talk, he didn't. He still didn't for the most part.

But Beth could tell the difference between her husband and their daughter. Daryl had been able to talk. He had just chosen not to. Abby seemed to have difficulty with talking and at three, almost four, years-old, not everything in her world should have still been egg. She didn't want to compare children but she thought of Hunter and Luke when they were this age and they had been eager to talk – especially Hunter – and Daryl would mutter that they still couldn't get him to shut up and why was she so eager to get Abby to talk to just add to the noise of their house?

If Abby knew how to talk and was just choosing to be quiet like her daddy, that would be one thing but Abby didn't know how to talk and that fact couldn't help but prick at the back of Beth's mind like an insistent hot poker.

"Bird," Abby finally said, looking back to her face, and Beth beamed as if she had just recited all of pi perfectly.

She leaned in and kissed Abby on the side of the head and Abby giggled a little and resumed coloring the picture of the bird. She didn't stay in the lines and she colored it so much and so dark, it was almost hard to see the original black outlines of the bird but Beth smiled nonetheless as if it was a Monet and she took the picture, declaring that this was going right on the refrigerator when they got home.

Abby beamed just like Beth did and quickly turned the page in the coloring book and grabbing a green crayon, she began coloring in the picture of the grizzly bear.

"I thought you stopped reading those child development books," Lori said after all of the little kids had gotten their lunches and eaten and were now lying down for their afternoon nap and Lori and Beth were able to eat their own.

"I did. About two months after Hunter was born," Beth nodded.

She remembered borrowing all sorts of books from her mom with her pregnancy with Hunter, having no idea what she was doing and being so terrified of being a completely unprepared mother even though Annette kept telling her that things would just come naturally once her baby was born. And when Hunter was born, she read them two or three times over. But of course, she should have just listened to her mother because Beth realized that every child was different and reading books weren't going to help her figure out what to do with her son.

Abby though, something was wrong. Not just different but wrong. Not right. She just had no idea what it could be and she wished she had kept at least one of those books instead of giving them to the church for their annual book drive.

"But I'm just feeling so lost with Abby," Beth confessed and Lori gave her a small smile and Beth knew that the other woman had noticed Abby's "late blooming" as well. It would be hard not to notice when they were surrounded by kids every day.

In the afternoon, buses from the school began to arrive and Luke and Hunter were both dropped off, Abby scurrying towards her brothers the instant she spotted them and she stretched her arms up, letting out little grunts until Luke picked her up.

"What is this?" Beth asked as Hunter handed her a crumpled up piece of paper.

"From my teacher," Hunter told her, already on his way to get the remote racecar from the corner of the room.

"Hunter Thomas," Beth called after him, stopping him in his tracks. "You stand right here, mister, while I read this."

Hunter sighed but didn't protest and came to stand in front of his mama as Beth unfolded the piece of a paper and read through what his teacher had written to her about. Apparently, another meeting was needed with Beth and Daryl because Hunter would just not stop talking and interrupting class with his constant chatter. This wasn't the first warning Hunter had gotten about this behavior and Daryl had suggested they just put a damn muzzle on him.

And Beth read through the letter now and let out a soft sight but didn't say anything because she didn't know what to say. She had a son who couldn't stop talking and a little girl who all she wanted was to hear her voice just as much throughout the day. And she didn't mean to but tears started rushing into her eyes and she quickly turned away before the kids could see, folding the letter and slipping it into her purse to be talked over with Daryl later that evening.

Her children were Dixons though and highly observant just like their daddy and of course, when Daryl came a couple of hours later after work to come pick them up, Hunter informed him that mama had been crying. Daryl's eyes sharply looked over at her, his face a mixture of confusion and question, and all she could do was shake her head because here was definitely not the place to talk about it.

"Abby, go get your coat, sweetie," Beth said but Abby just kept coloring yet another page in her coloring book, not lifting her head. Beth went to her and put a hand on her head, Abby instantly lifting it and smiling up at her. "Time to go home, Ms. Abby," she said and Abby's smile grew wider and it made Beth smile faintly, too.

Abby looked just like her with the blonde hair and big blue eyes and her little button nose and she had always thought that while she had her looks, she had Daryl's personality. She had always been quiet and a well-behaved baby and maybe there was nothing wrong with Abby. Maybe she just wanted to be quiet and that was that.

But Beth knew that just because that was what she tried to tell herself, that it didn't make it true and that poker in the back of her mind was only getting hotter.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked the kids had run into the house and he grabbed her elbow, pulling her back before she could go inside with them.

Beth looked up at her husband. "Something's _wrong_, Daryl. With Abby," she said.

Daryl looked at her for a moment and then let out a soft sigh like he usually did when Beth tried to talk about their daughter's progression – or lack thereof.

"I know you don't want to think so but I am with her every single day and I know," she said. "As her mother and as a woman who is surrounded by kids. Something is wrong and I… I'm not going to wait anymore for you to agree with me. I'm going to call Michonne. Maybe she knows of a good specialist we can take her to."

Daryl didn't say anything. He just kept looking at her, his fingers curled around her elbow and even after all this time together, his face was so damn blank and not even she was able to read it if he didn't want her to.

"We don't have the money for tests and specialists, Beth," Daryl told her.

"She's our _daughter_, Daryl," Beth told him, something rushing up her chest and she couldn't tell if it was anger or distress. "Money should have nothing to do with it."

She didn't let him say anything else, not really expecting him to say anything anyway, and pulled her arm from his grasp before turning and going into the house.

As they fixed dinner that evening, Beth kept looking to Abby through the doorway of the kitchen, seeing the littler girl playing on the floor beneath the dining room table with the dollhouse that Daryl had built for her, chattering to herself in words that didn't exist; baby babble. She should have been far past the baby babble stage. She turned away and when she did, her eyes caught Daryl, also watching Abby.

He felt Beth's eyes and he moved his head to meet hers. "It ain't about the money," he said in a low gruff. "You know with these kids, it's nothin' 'bout the money."

"Then why did you say that earlier?" Beth asked softly.

Daryl let out a sigh and leaned back against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. "'cause those specialists are gonna find somethin' and I don't want our daughter havin' to live with specialists the rest of her life. I'd rather just keep the door closed to all of that rather than know."

Beth was quiet for a moment, thinking his words over before she looked back to Abby. Hunter ran a circle around the table, whooping loudly and firing one of his toy guns but Abby didn't even lift her head as she kept playing with her dolls.

Something happened then. A flash or a spark but something, just like that, occurred to her. She gasped so quickly, she nearly stumbled a step back and she looked to Daryl, seeing him standing at attention now, looking alarmed.

"Say Abby's name," she said.

"What?" His brow furrowed a little.

"Say Abby's name like you're calling her for dinner," she said.

Daryl kept looking confused but he cleared his throat. "Abby," he called out.

Abby didn't lift her head though. She kept babbling and chattering to herself and Beth looked to Daryl again. Realization was slowly taking over his features as he pushed himself off the counter and took a step forward.

"Abby," he said again, a bit louder.

Again, Abby didn't respond to her name.

Daryl looked to Beth and she looked to him, both realizing the same thing at the same time and both wondering how they hadn't been able to see this so much sooner than just right now.

But now, everything locked into place. Living in their little house in the woods and the way she was always able to sleep, even with Hunter's constant running around or the fights he and Luke would have or the general noise of a family of five living in such a small house made. The way that Abby only said a few words and even now, they weren't said in a clear voice. The way that she always looked directly at a person when they were talking to her. The way she would come running as if she could hear but she was just running with her brothers. Little things that had never meant anything to Beth and Daryl for warning bells to go off.

Beth didn't wait until the morning like she had originally planned. She made the call after dinner and Daryl didn't leave as she did so. Michonne has been the social worker who had helped them with Luke after they adopted him and Beth still had her card, the woman calling in occasionally just to see how things were going.

Beth hung up the phone after talking with her for a few minutes and looked to Daryl. "She's going to call for us," she told him. "There's a doctor in Atlanta."

Daryl visibly swallowed and nodded and didn't say anything. Without a word, Beth slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest and felt his arms circle around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and rested her ear right over his heart, hearing the strong steady beats and she wondered if Abby had ever heard either of their heart beats when they rested her against their chests.

…

She didn't know what they would do without Herschel and Annette. Her parents were always right there, available to help with anything she and Daryl might need and when she told her parents that they had to take Abby to Atlanta to see a doctor, they didn't ask too many questions – seeming to know that Abby and Daryl didn't know anything right now; they just volunteered to keep Luke and Hunter at their house and take care of them for the day.

Daryl was quiet as he drove along the highway and Abby sat in her seat in the back and Beth listened to the children's song cd playing over the speakers and she wondered how long they had played this and how long Abby hadn't been able to hear it. She didn't know about the wheels on the bus or Itsy Bitsy Spider and she felt like such a shitty mother because how could she not have seen this sooner?

As if he could read her mind, Daryl reached over the center console and his hand found hers and she grasped his tightly, doing her best not to cry.

"It'll be fine," he said. "Either way, it'll be fine."

She nodded because she knew he was right. No matter what, they would find a way to figure it out and their lives would go on and _it would be fine_. She squeezed Daryl's hand because she knew he was saying that as a way to assure himself, too.

Daryl carried Abby in his arms and Beth checked them in with the front receptionist in the pediatrician ENT's office. They were a little early for their appointment with Dr. Subramanian but before they could even sit down, the nurse was calling them back into one of the examination rooms.

"Let's get her height and weight," the nurse smiled and Daryl set Abby down onto the scale, standing nearby as if she would need him at a moment's notice. "Such a healthy little girl," the nurse said with the same smile and Abby looked around the room at the different jungle animals painted onto the walls, not responding to the comment. "Dr. S will be in very shortly," the nurse told Beth and Daryl both and Beth did her best to smile at the woman as she left.

Daryl lifted Abby up and sat her down on the examination table, the paper sheet crinkling beneath her, and he stood beside her, hands shoved in his jeans pockets. Beth eased herself down into one of the hard plastic chairs against the wall and she watched as Daryl fiddled with Abby's hair, her ponytail having come loose somehow, and Beth smiled as Daryl gently pulled the rubber band out and scooped her hair into a new one.

The door opened and the doctor walked in, wearing a white lab coat over his khakis and blue button down shirt. He was Indian with warm brown skin and matching brown eyes and he smiled when he saw all of them. "Good morning, Abby," he said and since she was looking right at him as he said this, she smiled brightly. "I'm Dr. Subramanian but just call me Dr. S," he said as he shook Daryl and Beth's hands. "I'm just going to run a couple of quick tests right now and I'll see where we are and where we need to go from here and we'll have a talk."

Beth swallowed nervously and nodded and Daryl slowly sat down beside her as Dr. S first checked Abby's heart rate and then her knee reflexes and all the while, he was talking and explaining to Abby everything he was doing. He then looked into her ears, staying there the longest, peering in and studying whatever it was he saw.

"Alright," he came to stand in front of Abby and held up a pair of earmuffs. "We're going to put these over your ears, Abby, and when you hear the bell, I want you to raise your hand, alright?" He asked. Abby just kept smiling at him as he gently secured the muffs over her ears.

Daryl leaned forward in his chair, his arms on his knees, and both he and Beth watched, practically unblinking, as Dr. S turned a knob in his hands that was connected to the earmuffs. They waited for nearly a minute before Abby finally lifted her eyes and her hand raised a little.

Dr. S just smiled though. "Very good, Abby." He turned and pulled a red sucker out from a drawer. "Here you go, sweetheart," he said and Abby was eager to take it. He pulled out a stool and wheeled it over to sit down in front of Daryl and Beth. "I would like to run more tests but I would say that Abby has about thirty percent hearing in each ear."

Beth expected to cry at the news but her eyes felt surprisingly dry. Maybe it was because she had been thinking something like this for the past few days ever since she and Daryl watched her not responding to her name as Daryl called it out.

"She was more than likely born with it but it wasn't caught when the hearing tests were administered to her as a baby because it wasn't too serious then or obvious. It has probably been progressively declining as she has gotten older," Dr. S continued to explain.

"Why didn' we see this earlier?" Daryl asked.

"Kids are much smarter and more adaptable than we ever give them credit for," Dr. S smiled kindly. "Abby adjusted and to her, this was all normal."

Beth sat up a little and swallowed the dryness in her throat. "What do we do?"

Dr. S just kept smiling and Beth admitted that it was such a warm smile; a smile she definitely needed to see right now. "We'll get her hearing aids and she'll keep growing up just like every other kid."

Beth and Daryl were quiet, watching Abby as she happily sucked on her sucker, and then Daryl let out a soft breath and leaned back in his chair. His hand found hers again and again, Beth squeezed it.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**

**The next chapter will be quiet time between Beth and Daryl. And I also have a career day planned - that one has been requested a couple of times - and a small Dixon vacation as well. If you have any requests of what you want to read with the Dixon family, just let me know!**


	13. Ring

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**Chapter Thirteen.** Ring.

Daryl didn't feel quite ready to wake up and yet, something began to pull him out of his slumber until his eyes finally fluttered open and he blinked into the greyness of the bedroom, growing lighter with the pre-dawn. It took him just a second to realize what had woken him up. Beth wasn't next to him in bed anymore. But it took him just another second for him to find her. He lifted his head from the pillow and saw her sitting on the window-seat, her knees drawn up to her chest as she looked out the window that overlooked the backyard. He saw her journal resting on the cushion at her feet and he wondered how long she had been awake and out of bed.

He sat up, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes, and he then glanced at the clock. It was just a little after five and except for the birds chirping outside, everything else seemed pretty much silent. Beth turned her head and looked at him as he pulled himself from bed, giving him a small smile. He crossed the room towards her and without a word, Beth scooted forward a little and Daryl sat down behind her, settling his back against the wall and Beth moved back, resting her back against his chest. He didn't say anything either.

Outside, the morning dew still glistened on the blades of grass and a low fog hung a couple of inches off the ground. At the edge of the woods, he could see a doe nuzzling her snout down amongst the leaves, smelling something. The sky was growing lighter in the east and soon, it would be streaked with pinks and purples. It was Saturday and it was going to be nice all day – he could tell by the morning sky. Merle was going to be coming over later and maybe he could help him work on the Firebird and Hunter would want to help, too.

He heard Beth exhale a soft sight and she leaned her head back against the front of his shoulder, her eyes never looking away from the window. She drew her legs up and hugged her knees to her chest. Daryl brought his arm around her front, holding her to his chest as if she was going to get up and he didn't want her to.

He had been married to Beth, been with her long enough, to know that she was thinking about something; had obviously gotten out of bed for some reason because she had been unable to sleep. And he didn't ask her what it was because he wanted to figure it out for himself. Most wouldn't think Beth worried about things. She was always smiling or giving a kind word to anyone who might need it and people in their town looked at her as if she was an actual ray of sunshine living amongst them.

When it was just the two of them though, she would sometimes be quiet and the corners of her mouth weighed downwards a little and he actually hated seeing her with even the smallest of frowns because this was Beth and a frown didn't belong on her face. It looked unnatural to be there. When he had asked her to marry him, he remembered spreading his arms out to gesture to the small house they were standing in and told her that this was pretty much going to be it if she married him. And he remembered the way she had shaken her head and cried and told him that she didn't care about that. And she didn't. In all of their years together, Beth hadn't once asked for more than he could give her.

But that didn't mean that he worked his ass off every day to give her everything. He had told her that they would have a poor life but ever since he said that to her, ever since Beth Greene came into his life, he pushed himself to give her more; to give her the absolute best life so she didn't go through one day of it with a frown on her face.

Some of it was out of his control though, he knew, and he looked at the side of her face, noting the small frown, and wondered what it could be. There was Luke and his birth mom, Valerie. He had refused to see her and Valerie hadn't made a move to approach him since they ran into her in the grocery store but maybe Beth was worrying she would.

Or maybe she was thinking about Hunter right now. He hadn't gotten into trouble lately but he was a Dixon and it was just a matter of time before he did again. And with summer break from school just a couple of weeks away, they would have to think of ways to keep Hunter from wreaking havoc around town.

Or maybe her thoughts were about Abby this morning. They had gotten the little girl hearing aids and were trying to help her get used to them but the world had been at such a soft murmur for so long that suddenly hearing everything so loud and clear, Abby seemed to scream and cry at everything lately, never wanting to wear anything in her ears, and neither he or Beth had any clue what to do about it.

It could be any of those things – most of her worrisome thoughts usually always about their kids – but maybe it was something else. Something completely different and Daryl sat there and tried to think of everything going on in their life right now to warrant Beth being out of bed so early that morning with a frown on her face.

He dropped his head down and couldn't help but press his face against the side of her throat. He felt the rise of her jaw and knew that she was smiling faintly now and he closed his eyes, breathing in her light sweet scent. Beth tilted her head towards his and he nuzzled his nose before lifting his lips, brushing them against the corner of her jaw. She let out a quiet hum from the back of her throat and turned her own head, brushing her lips across the side of his throat.

"What are you doin' out of bed so early?" He finally asked her in a quiet voice.

Beth pulled her head back so she could give it a small shake. "Just couldn't sleep."

He stared at her then, trying to decide if she was telling him the truth or not. Beth was never able to lie – not that she was the sort to tell lies. She had these big blue eyes and he could see everything in those eyes. Everything she was thinking or feeling, she was never able to hide it from anyone – especially from him. He knew Beth like the back of his hand and he looked at her now, studied her, made sure that he still knew her and that she wasn't finally able to hide something from him.

She smiled a little then as if she was reading his mind. "I'm serious, Daryl. Just couldn't sleep is all. I was writing a few little poems down and watching outside."

"Hmmmm," Daryl hummed, making it clear that he didn't completely believe her.

"Well, what are you doing up?" She asked.

He shrugged at that. "You know I can't really sleep without you," he said and she smiled faintly at that, leaning her head in to his, her nose brushing against his, and they both knew he meant it.

He could sleep without Beth next to him, sure, but he didn't sleep that well. He had gotten used to her warmth and the shared weight on the mattress and how some mornings, he would wake up with some part of her touching some part of him. He had told her once – years earlier when there was still the little house in the woods and she was sneaking away almost every night to see him – that he had never had a stuffed animal growing up and he guessed some part of his mind had tried to make up for that, making Beth his stuffed animal. And Beth seemed to know that because she never complained when he hugged her a little too tightly at night.

She turned her head back towards the window and looked out. The sun was nearer to the horizon line now, nearly ready to pop over it and begin to make itself visible, and with it, the birds seemed to be singing a little louder. The doe was slowly walking along the edge of the woods, her nose still down to the ground, and Daryl couldn't help but wonder what the animal was tracking down. A sudden noise though made the doe lift her head, going completely still except for the twitching of her ears, and then she took off, running and disappearing into the trees.

He could hear a creak of a floorboard in the hallway and then the bathroom door closed, one of the kids up but probably heading right back to bed when they were done. Daryl looked back to Beth. The small frown had returned to her face.

"What is it?" He couldn't help but ask – a bit on the gruff side – and again, Beth shook her head. He let out a short sigh. "Beth," he said her name but he didn't know what to follow that up with so he didn't say anything else.

She kept her eyes turned towards the window. "It's you, Daryl," she said.

His eyebrows shot up at that, not able to hide the surprise from his face. What the hell had he done that it would get her up so early and keep her from sleeping?

"I love you more than anything," she said softly, answering the question he hadn't spoken out loud. But she knew him like he knew her and could read his mind. "I've loved you since I was twenty-one. Since the second I saw you for the first time."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" He couldn't help but ask.

Beth turned her head to look at him. "Why have you never worn a wedding ring?"

He was going to be honest with himself. He did not see that coming.

He heard the bathroom door down the hall open again, the water running from the toilet being flushed, and the same floorboard creaked as whatever kid it was that had been up went back to bed. Daryl almost wished that they had come into the room right now to interrupt because Beth was staring at him and he had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on.

"It was something Lizzie said yesterday-"

"You're listenin' to some lil' girl who's not all there in the mind department?" He couldn't help but interrupt up with the question, his own frown on his face now.

"That's not nice, Daryl, and she didn't mean anything by it. It was just a comment she made about some article she had read in one of those women magazines. About married men who had a tendency to not wear a wedding ring because they were having affairs," Beth said.

That made him scowl and his entire body tensed. What the hell had happened? It had been a quiet early morning on the window seat with his wife and now she was accusing him of having affairs and running around on her?

Again, Beth read his mind though he supposed for once, it wasn't that hard to. She shook her head fiercely and turned herself slightly to look at him more head on.

"I have never thought that about you for a second, Daryl," she said. "But it did get me to think about… you've never worn a wedding ring. We've never even gotten you one. And I was just wondering why."

Daryl kept staring at her, kept frowning. His eyes then drifted down to the band of cheap gold around Beth's fingers that he had slipped on in that wedding chapel in Atlanta during the quick ceremony and how she hadn't taken it off since that day. He thought of Rick, too, and the ring he always wore on his finger; remembered the way he had freaked out that afternoon when Daryl had been helping him clean the gutters at the Grimes house and he had thought he had lost it.

He felt himself shrug again. "Jus' never been a ring kind of guy," he said and he knew it was a weak answer but it was the only one he had right now to give and besides, it was the truth. "Didn' want to lose it in the woods or at the shop or get it dirty and have to always be takin' it on and off," he pushed himself to further tell her.

Beth nodded her head then as if she had known all of that already. "I know," she then confirmed and gave him a small smile and he studied it closely, determining that it was actually a real smile and he had never felt so relieved to see it before.

She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "I'm going to go get some eggs. I have a taste for some scrambled eggs this morning." She gave him another kiss and with that, she pushed herself off the window seat and headed out of the room.

Daryl remained sitting on the window-seat, not following after her, and he almost wished he hadn't pushed Beth into telling him what was wrong.

…

Merle and him might have gone down two completely paths in life but they were still brothers and there were some things that Daryl just wanted his brother to be with him when he did it.

"Surprised you haven't done this already, lil' brother," Merle grinned from the seat next to the one Daryl was sitting back in.

He had taken his shirt off and had done it quickly and sat down before anyone could see his back. Tara, Merle's usual tattoo artist, had snapped on a pair of clean latex gloves and was now cleaning the space on his chest that Daryl had chosen for the tattoo to be placed.

"I'm a lil' slow when it comes to things like this," Daryl hated to admit, grumbling as he did so, frowning a little as Tara picked up the ink gun.

It wasn't his first tattoo but he hadn't gotten one in a few years and he suddenly remembered how much he hated the initial pain. But there was no way he wasn't going to do this. Hopefully, Beth would like it.

"This is why I ain't ever gettin' married," Merle said with a shake of his head. "You have kids with that girl. A house. And it's still not enough."

Daryl couldn't help but smirk a little. "That's really the reason why you ain't gettin' married?" He asked and he heard Tara snort with soft laughter.

He took a deep breath and looked down to the gun about to make contact with his sin. Tara seemed to sense his mood – not really reluctance or doubt but something a little close to hesitancy. She stopped her hand before making contact with his skin.

"You ready?" She asked, looking at him.

Daryl nodded almost immediately. "Yeah."

He didn't know if Beth would like this or if this was just some poor excuse of a replacement because he didn't want to wear a ring. He didn't know if she was hurt by it or disappointed after all of these years of him never having worn one before. He didn't know if she was beginning to doubt his commitment to her – as if these past years with her hadn't happened and he couldn't believe that he was agreeing with Merle but he was. He and Beth had been through too much together, had too much together for her to be doubting him for even a second just because he didn't want to wear some ring.

And he didn't know if she was because she hadn't said she did or acted like she did but if she was doubting – even for a second – he supposed it was up to him to put whatever doubt she had to rest.

Tara moved in and the gun hit his skin and he clenched his teeth but didn't flinch and he relaxed back into the chair, figuring he'd be home in a couple of hours. He couldn't wait to see Beth's face when he showed her what he had done.

Merle was staying for dinner and they drove back to the white house, pulling up in front of it just as the screen door burst open and Hunter ran out, laughing about something, and Luke ran after him, clearly intending to murder him if he caught him, both heading in the direction towards the woods off to the side of their house. They ran past Daryl, who didn't even try to stop them, as he climbed the steps and went into the house, Merle behind him.

"Wanna beer?" Daryl asked and without waiting for an answer, in the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and took out two cans, handing one to Merle.

Beth was there, standing at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, cutting up tomatoes. "Hey," she smiled at them both. "Where have you two been?"

Daryl shrugged. "Runnin' an errand. Smells good in here."

"Beef and pasta casserole. Should be ready by five," she said, looking at Daryl as he came around to stand beside her, giving her a kiss on the side of her head.

Daryl looked to Merle and Merle smirked, taking a quick chug from the beer can.

"'m gonna go make sure my nephews don't kill each other," Merle said as he turned, heading out of the kitchen, making himself scarce.

"Where's Abby?" Daryl asked once it was just the two of them and Beth resumed cutting the tomatoes into slices.

"Upstairs having a tea party. Where'd you and Merle go?" She asked.

He took a sip of beer and then set the can down on the counter. Without a word, he grabbed the back of his tee-shirt and tugged it off over his head. Beth looked at him, curious and confused, her eyebrows shooting up, but then she saw the white bandage on his chest and she gasped, quickly putting the knife down.

"Daryl, what happened?" She asked, her fingers reaching for his chest.

"Don't worry," he shook his head. "Should have done this a long time ago."

He slowly began peeling the bandage back to show her what was beneath. He watched her face as she saw the newest mark on his body – a tattoo in black script of her name. Beth. Right over his heart.

"I know it ain't a ring but I can't ever lose this," he told her.

Beth didn't say anything. She just stared at the tattoo with an expression that Daryl discovered he really couldn't quite figure out – and he didn't know if he should be nervous about that or not.

But then she lifted her eyes and he saw tears brimming in them. "You did this for me?" She asked as if there a possibility of another answer.

"Only Beth I know," he shrugged, trying to keep casual about the whole thing. "Only Beth I'm married to. You like it?" He then felt brave enough to ask.

She rapidly nodded her head. "I love it," she said in a hushed tone. She looked at it again and then looked to him. "I love you." She stood on her toes and her hands went to his cheeks and she kissed him. "I love you," she said again, hardly able to lift her lips off of his to say it. "Our relationship is so unbalanced," she then murmured.

"What are you talkin' 'bout this time?" He asked and his brow furrowed and his hands rested heavily on her hips.

"You do all of these things for me and I feel like maybe I don't do nearly as much for you," she admitted. "Should I get a tattoo of your name somewhere on my body, do you think?" She then asked, genuinely, as her eyes lowered back to her name on his chest, studying it for a moment before looking to his face again.

Daryl looked at her and couldn't help but frown. He wondered if he was married to a woman who was losing her mind. "You really think you don't do anythin' for me?" He asked and her lips parted to respond but before she could, he leaned down and covered her mouth with his.

…

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**Next chapter, Hunter wants Daryl to come to his class for career day. I am also beginning work on the next chapter of _Who We Are_. **

**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	14. Meow

**I've been missing the Dixon family from this particular world and some of you have mentioned that the Dixon family needs a pet.**

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…

**Chapter Fourteen. **Meow.

"Mama!" The voice ripped through the otherwise quiet air of the Saturday morning.

Daryl grumbled as he rolled onto his back. "Damn kids," he muttered, still half asleep. Beth mumbled something, too, in response and rolled after him, her head finding his chest and his arm finding its way around her shoulders, holding her close. They both began to drift off again because although both were early risers every morning, they were able to tell without opening their eyes that it was still too early to pull themselves out of bed yet.

"Mama!" The voice shouted again and it was closer this time.

Beth's eyes snapped open when she felt a sudden weight drop onto the bed and she flew into a sitting position. Hunter was kneeling on the foot of the bed with a grin on his face and something small being held in his arms.

"Can we keep it?" He asked.

It took a moment for Beth's sleepy brain to understand what she was seeing. "Where did you get that?" She asked.

And there was something in her tone that reached into Daryl's own sleep and he woke up, sitting up with a yawn, but it was abruptly cut off when he looked at Hunter and saw, too, what he was holding.

"It was outside, underneath the front steps. Me and Luke heard him crying up a storm," Hunter explained, still grinning. "Can we keep him?"

"Luke and I," Beth corrected automatically, looking at the small black kitten in Hunter's arms before looking to Daryl. But he didn't say anything as he was also staring at the kitten. She looked back to the boy. "Hunter, you…" she began to lecture him that he knew better than to pick up wild animals but then the kitten let out a quiet, sharp meow and she instantly forgot what she was going to say. "Oh. It's hungry," she said, pushing the covers off of her. "Come on," she said, gently taking the kitten from Hunter's arms and holding it carefully in her hands. "You poor thing," she murmured softly and she walked from the bedroom, Hunter on her heels.

Daryl had no idea what had just happened and he wondered if he was still asleep.

He pulled himself from bed with another yawn and went into the bathroom first before leaving the bedroom. He went across the hall, poking his head into the bedroom that belonged to their daughter, Abby, but it was too early for her, too, and the little girl was still asleep. She slept without her hearing aids so she probably hadn't heard Hunter shouting at this god-forsaken hour.

Going downstairs, he found the rest of his family in the kitchen and Beth was talking to the boys about kitten formula but they only had milk and that would have to do for now though she really wished they had something else. Both Hunter and Luke sat on the floor with the kitten as the tiny ball of black fur lapped at the dish of milk.

Beth looked when Daryl entered. "I'm going to take the kitten to my dad this morning. Have him look it over," she said and Daryl nodded, not saying anything as he shuffled to the refrigerator. Without a word, he pulled out the pack of bacon and Beth was already pulling out the frying pan, setting it on the stove. "Luke showed me where they found it," she said to him softly as they stood side by side at the counter. "It looks like that little kitten is the only one. I wonder where it came from. Poor thing," she then said again, looking back to the kitten and the boys on the floor.

Luke was slowly and lightly running his hand down the kitten's back, frowning as he was able to see and feel all of the kitten's ribs, and Hunter was already talking about names – names that ranged from the expected Midnight to the not so expected of Hulk or Spiderman, two of his favorites.

"What do you think?" Beth asked as she looked back to Daryl.

"'bout what?" He finally grunted.

"Do you think…" she trailed off then but he didn't really need her to finish.

He knew the instant he opened his eyes minutes earlier and saw Hunter holding that kitten. That kitten was already a part of their family and there was no way he could be the asshole who told his kids and his wife that they couldn't keep it.

"I ain't gonna be the one to take care of it," he said, dropping the strips of bacon into the frying pan once it was hot enough.

"Of course not," Beth said and her smile was blinding as she pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed his cheek. "Having a pet might be good for the kids. I remember how much I loved having a pet when I was their age. And it taught me all about responsibility and caring for something other than myself."

Daryl didn't say anything but he was listening to every word she said. He was always listening even if he was acting like he wasn't. He thought his kids knew plenty about responsibility already.

Rick had said something the other day where he read something about only twenty-five percent of kids in the country nowadays had chores to do around the house and then he mentioned how Carl doesn't do anything except play video games. Luke and Hunter and even Abby though must have been part of that twenty-five percent, Daryl figured, because he and Beth had things they had the kids do around the house. The usual of taking out the trash and helping with the dishes and making their beds and keeping their rooms neat enough.

But then there were other chores of helping Daryl sweep up his small woodshop or helping him gut and clean the animals he hunted and collecting eggs from the chicken coop and helping Beth with her vegetable garden.

Daryl remembered his own dad and seemingly every other Dixon man and how they had done nothing but laid around and drank all day and how Daryl knew he didn't want to be anything like that. He had always kept himself busy and he expected to pass the habit down to his children.

"If you think they can handle it," Daryl grunted in response and didn't say anything else, poking at the sizzling bacon with a fork.

"Of course they can handle it." Beth looked back to the boys with the kitten and a faint smile passed across her lips. She looked back to Daryl and didn't say anything else as she lifted herself onto her toes to give him another kiss on the cheek.

…

Beth and all of the kids went to the farm later that morning as Daryl went hunting. And when he came back, Hunter ran up to him to inform him that the kitten was a boy and that he was healthy except for being underweight and mama said they would get him registered so they could get him a collar and a tag and maybe a little bell, too, to wear and he was so excited, saying all of this in a rush of words, Daryl had no idea how he was able to talk so much without breathing.

In the living room, Abby was sitting on the carpet on the floor with the little kitten curled into her lap. Daryl watched for a moment as Abby was petting him down his back and the kitten seemed to nestle closer to her and Daryl saw the smile across Abby's face. Ever since they had gotten the little girl her hearing aids, it seemed like she hadn't smiled like that in a long time and Daryl stood there, watching it now, and he admitted that maybe having the little kitten wasn't the worst thing.

"What are we gonna name him?" Luke asked from the couch where he had his paper pad in his lap as he almost always did, already making a sketch of the kitten.

"Peter Parker!" Hunter exclaimed, sitting next to Abby, leaning close to the kitten.

"Hey," Beth came into the room with a smile when she saw Daryl. "Get anything?"

"There was a buck but we don't need it," He said, his eyes still watching Abby and the kitten. "'ave enough deer meat in the freezer."

"What do you think, dad?" Luke lifted his eyes to him. "What do you think we should name him?"

Daryl shook his head, swinging his crossbow off his shoulder and setting it down, leaning it against the wall for the moment. "That's all yours cat. You name 'im."

"Peter Parker," Hunter then said again. "We're naming it Peter Parker."

"We all have to agree on it, Hunter, and I'm not agreeing to that," Luke told him.

"Kyle," Abby then said suddenly, her eyes never lifting from the kitten.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, looking at her. Hunter then laughed.

"Kyle," he echoed and leaned in, scratching the kitten behind his ear. "Hiya, Kyle."

"I like it," Luke nodded and went back to sketching.

Beth smiled, laughing a little. "Then I guess his name is Kyle."

Even Daryl smirked a little and then looked to Beth. "I'm headin' into town. Need to pick up a few things from T at the hardware store. You need anythin'?"

"Can I come?" Hunter scrambled to his feet. "We need to get Kyle a few things."

"I'll come, too," Luke said, setting his pad aside and standing from the couch. "The pet store has this laser thing where if you type in the animal's name, it traces it onto a tag. Molly did it when she got her dog."

"Cool!" Hunter's eyes gleamed at the mention of a laser.

Beth looked to Daryl. "We can all go?" She suggested. "You go to the hardware store and I'll take the kids into the pet store."

Daryl nodded and the boys ran out of the room to go get their shoes and Beth went to Abby, crouching down in front of her, making sure she was looking to her face as she told Abby the plan. Abby nodded and then tenderly lifted Kyle to her. Beth smiled as she took the kitten and Abby stood up, going to go get her shoes as well. As she passed Daryl, she looked up at him and smiled and Daryl put a hand on her head, smiling back at her.

…

Daryl admitted that he was pretty indifferent to Kyle at first.

He made Beth and the kids happy and they loved him so that was fine with Daryl but Daryl didn't feel much attachment to him. He was just the black cat that lived with their family and occasionally slept between him and Beth in their bed if he wasn't sleeping with Abby in hers.

He got bigger and healthier and the first time he brought a dead mouse into the house, dropping it on the kitchen floor right next to where Daryl was sitting at the table, Daryl's indifference grew to respect. He respected anything that could hunt and if Kyle was going to keep their house mouse-free from now on, then Daryl would never look to the animal as just some fat house-cat.

Hunter came home from school with a cold and passed it onto Luke and Beth kept the two boys sequestered in their rooms until they got better, not wanting anyone else in the family to get sick. And Kyle kept them company, going from one room to the other and then back again, lying on the beds, sleeping with them or just lying there as Luke drew and Hunter read his comic books.

And when Abby was in her room, playing with her dollhouse or having a tea party for her teddy bears, Kyle became a frequent guest, sitting at the small table as Abby poured him a cup of tea and asked him if he wanted sugar or cream, a question he just blinked at so Abby always gave him both.

When Beth played the piano in the living room, Kyle often jumped on top of it, lying down, lazily swishing his tail back and forth to whatever song she was playing. He seemed to like her Mozart sheet music the best though, always letting out contented purrs when the familiar songs rang throughout the house.

Beth had developed the habit of playing a lot more Mozart nowadays.

And with Daryl, Kyle had grown an attachment with as well.

Whenever Daryl grabbed his crossbow and began heading into the woods, Kyle began following him. At first, Daryl tried to tell the cat to go back to the house but Kyle just blinked his yellow eyes at him and ignored him. Daryl just expected Kyle to go back on his own but as he walked further into the woods, the cat stayed right on his trail, following after him.

Daryl grew to not mind that much, having real no reason for it to bother him. It wasn't as if Kyle was making noise and scaring away the game. And he hunted his own things, mainly mice and one time, he had killed a bird, which Daryl decided not to tell Beth about because although she was more than used to Daryl hunting and killing animals, he somehow knew she would probably be more upset with the bird's death than anything – even if Kyle was just giving into his natural cat instincts.

The cat even seemed to like Merle and Merle, surprisingly, liked the cat in return. When he came over for dinner on occasion and sat on the couch with a bottle of beer, Kyle always came and curled right up in Merle's lap and Merle just kept watching the television and rubbing a hand down Kyle's back.

"Looks like your family's finally complete, baby brother," Merle grinned. "You got the wife and the kids and the house and now, the family pet."

Daryl didn't say anything to that – just shrugged and took a sip of his own beer.

The truth was, he had already thought of that.

"Kyle!" Beth called out from the kitchen. "Dinner!"

The cat leapt from Merle's lap and went running as if lightning had just struck him. Merle chuckled and shook his head and focused his eyes on the television.

Daryl took another sip of beer. "I always 'magined myself havin' a dog someday."

Merle grinned. "There's always time for a dog, too," he said. "Hell, you have all of this and who would 'ave ever thought? You want a dog, you'll get yourself a dog."

Daryl nodded and thought that over for a few minutes. "Wouldn' want Kyle to get jealous though," he then mused out loud and Merle just let out a laugh.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	15. Oven

**This chapter's plot randomly popped into my head the other day and I wanted to get it written. **

**The next chapter will be Beth's birthday and some much-needed Beth/Daryl fluff. **

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**Chapter Fifteen. **Oven.

Luke tried to concentrate on the sketch he was working on and not look up every time the door opened and the bell rang, signaling a new customer entering. He just kept sketching and drank from his glass of Coke and it never got too low before Amy was there, giving him a refill and asking him if he wanted to order anything. He had five dollars in his pocket and the diner had the best French fries but he didn't want to spend his money and he wasn't feeling really hungry at the moment.

He still wasn't entirely sure why he was doing this. His mom had asked him at least a dozen times just that morning if he was and every time, he had nodded because at the time, he hadn't been exactly sure but he knew that this was something he had to do. Not something he necessarily _wanted_ to do but he figured it was just one of those unpleasant things that people had to do from time to time throughout their life.

He was thirteen years old now and he had been with Daryl and Beth Dixon for almost nine years already. So much of his life up to this point had been with Daryl as his dad and Beth as his mom but for the first four years he had been alive, he had had something entirely different. He had had Mark and Valerie Ridgeway and no matter what his last name was now, he still had the Ridgeway blood.

Their town was small and the newspaper was only weekly and the library had every issue dating back for years. He had gone once to look at them for a school project and had found a story written about them; about their arrest. Their pictures were printed. Black and white and grainy but Luke had sat at the table and stared at them, losing all track of time and sense of the world around him. He looked like just like him. Mark Ridgeway. His dad. It actually almost made him feel sick.

The man was photographed being led out their old ramshackle house in handcuffs by two police officers. They had gotten arrested when Luke had been at the daycare center for the day so he hadn't been around to see both of his parents be led off. Sherriff Grimes had come to the center and Luke remembered being jealous of his hat. Beth had called him over and asked him if he would like to go home with her and her husband that night and Luke hadn't even hesitated before answering with a resounding yes. The four-year-old him hadn't even thought about it because he was able to go home with Beth and Daryl Dixon and they fed him dinner and he got to take his first bubble bath ever and he slept on their soft couch with a warm blanket and in the morning, Beth had made pancakes.

They had been in his life ever since. They became his parents in every sense of the word. Beth was there, giving him medicine and feeding him chicken noodle soup when he got sick, and taking him shopping for new clothes and taking him to his first dentist appointment and his first haircut. Daryl was there, teaching him how to hunt and track and he taught him how to ride a bike and when he fell and scraped his knees, Daryl was the one to clean him up and put band aids over his cuts. They never yelled at him or slapped him or beat him until he was cowering in the closet, crying and trying his hardest to ignore the pain that engulfed his body.

No one knew how much of his old life he remembered because he never talked about it. He never saw a reason to. It was in the past and in his opinion, it wasn't important to remember. Why the hell would he want to remember it anyway? Of the beatings and of being starved or ignored altogether. Daryl had had the same childhood and he never talked about it so why would anyone expect Luke to talk?

The bell rang again and this time, something pricked him on the back of the neck that had Luke lifting his head to see the newest arrival in the diner. And this time, it was her. Her eyes scanned over the diner before they found him, sitting in the corner booth, and she seemed to take a deep breath as if she was nervous, too, but then she came towards him slowly and did her best to give him a small smile.

"Hi, Luke," she said and slid into the bench seat across from him. "Have you been waiting long?" She asked.

Up until that second, he didn't know how this was going to go or how he was going to be. He had considered just sitting there and not saying a word but he decided that since he had been the one who had agreed to meet her, he should at least talk.

"Not long," he said. "I got here a little early. Mom dropped me off."

He was surprised when he saw that she had no reaction to him calling another woman "mom" but it was the truth of the entire situation. Beth was his mom. This woman was nothing more than an oven.

Amy came to their table and asked Valerie if she wanted anything and Luke took the opportunity to study the woman sitting across from him. When he had seen her in Aldi for the first time a few weeks ago, he could tell immediately that she was clean now. The memory he had of this woman was with greasy hair and scratches and pot marks all over her face and dirty teeth. This woman wasn't like that anymore. For one thing, it looked like she had bathed in recent memory.

"Would you like anything?" Valerie asked, breaking through his thoughts.

Luke just shook his head and Amy gave them a smile before walking away. He wondered what Amy thought about this lunch meeting. Everyone in town knew how Mark and Valerie had treated him and everyone knew when they had gone to prison and everyone knew when Daryl and Beth adopted him, changing him from a Ridgeway to a Dixon. And now, oven and son were sitting together in the diner. Luke imagined that everyone in town would know about this, too.

Silence fell over them for a few heavy, awkward minutes but Luke didn't think to break it. Valerie was the one who wanted to meet him and he had agreed. He had done his part. If she wanted to talk with him – and he imagined she did – she would actually have to be the one to pick the topic of conversation.

"What are you drawing?" Valerie asked.

Luke turned his sketchpad over without protesting. He never minded showing people his work. Not even her.

He watched as Valerie studied the pencil sketch he had been working on and then she began looking through the others before it, her face intent as she looked at each one, not rushing, taking minutes on each one. Amy came to their table with the cup of coffee Valerie had ordered and another glass of Coke for Luke and Valerie lifted her eyes, looking at Luke across from her.

"These are amazing," she said almost in a hush.

Luke shrugged and took a sip of his soda through the straw. "There's been a couple of art shows at my school. I've won a few ribbons," he said, looking down at the table rather than here when he spoke because she kept looking at him and he saw that they had the same green eyes.

"That's so wonderful, Luke," she said and slid the pad back across the table to him.

Silence again. He finally lifted his eyes but wished he hadn't because when he looked at her, he saw tears brimming in her eyes and he couldn't help but feel angry at the sight of them. He frowned at her.

"Why are you doing that?" He asked and was surprised to hear his voice so hard.

She quickly shook her head. "I just… I don't know anything about you and I am just so happy that you've agreed to meet with me."

"You don't know anything about me? Well, whose fault is that?" Luke asked and he could hear his voice getting a little louder. "Are you expecting me to feel bad?"

"Of course not, Luke," Valerie quickly interjected. "I know this is all my fault. Mine and your father's."

"He's not my father," Luke said. "And you're not my mother. You're an oven."

More tears flooded into Valerie's eyes and he only felt his anger growing at the sight. He didn't know why she was crying. She had absolutely no right to cry. She had been right there, beating him right alongside Mark. It wasn't as if she did anything to protect him. If anything, sometimes, he was more afraid of her than of Mark.

And now she was going to sit there and cry just because she went to prison and got clean? Luke didn't care. He really didn't. He might have died if he stayed there with them any longer. Either being beaten or starved to death. He was their own son and they hadn't given a shit about anything other than where their next high was coming from. This whole thing was such bullshit.

"Do you want to see my scars?" Luke then asked. "I've got plenty of them."

"No, Luke," Valerie shook her head again. "I don't want to see them."

"Why not? I have to look at them every day."

Tears began trickling down her cheeks and he hated that she thought she had any right to cry right now. Especially in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so… I'm so, so sorry, Luke. I know it doesn't fix anything me or your… Mark did to you. And you have every single right in this world to hate me-"

"Glad we finally agree on something," Luke said.

With that, he stood up from the table and grabbed his pad, shoving it under his arm.

He didn't know why he had agreed to meet with her. He didn't know what he had been hoping to get out of it because even all of these years later, sitting across from her, he realized that all of these wounds, all of the damage she and Mark had done to him, it was still too fresh. He never would have thought because he never thought about them anymore. He had no reason to. He had parents and siblings and a nice house and dinner on the table to eat every night. And he may have had Ridgeway blood and Valerie's green eyes and Mark's dirty blonde hair but he was a Dixon.

He couldn't help from storming out of the diner and stalking down the street. He was clenching his jaw so tightly, his teeth were beginning to ache, and he tried to get himself to breathe. He didn't think about it as he started heading in the direction of Dale's garage – just started heading there and kicking at a pebble on the sidewalk.

He expected Valerie to follow him but thankfully, she had taken the hint. He didn't want to see her. Probably never again. Maybe He would be ready to see her again someday. Maybe when he was forty and had been able to truly leave his past behind him without his scars aching at the sight of her.

The garage was open on Saturday but as he walked through the open bay doors, he saw that it was pretty quiet. He could see Dale sitting in the front office and the only mechanics who seemed to be working that day were his dad and Oscar. Luke went into Daryl's bay and without a word, he sat down on the ground, resting his back against the wall. Daryl's upper body was underneath a car so Luke sat there for a few minutes, going undetected, taking the time to get his heart slowing down again.

When Daryl slid out again and sat up, he stilled at the sight of Luke. He looked at him for a moment and then pulled the red rag he kept in his back pocket and wiped his hands. He didn't say anything or even looked surprised to see him. Luke wondered if Daryl had been expecting him ever since Luke had told him and Beth that he was thinking about meeting up with Valerie.

Still, without a word, Daryl stood up and Luke stood up, too, and followed him towards the back of the garage. The employees had small lockers and they stopped at Daryl's as he grabbed a cigarette and a lighter before heading out back. Luke sat down in one of the lawn chairs the guys had set up, resting his sketch pad across his thighs, and Daryl sat in the chair beside him, lighting the cigarette and turning his head and exhaling the smoke away from him.

"I hate her." He said the words quietly but firmly. "I don't know what I was expecting," he then admitted barely above a whisper.

Daryl didn't say anything. He didn't tell him that hate was a strong word or tell him how he shouldn't hate anyone like Beth would say if she had heard him. Instead, Daryl sat silently and smoked his cigarette.

"Your mom told me somethin' a long time ago," Daryl then spoke after a moment, his voice a little rough from not having used it for the past couple of hours. "It was when we had started seein' one another and I finally showed her my back."

Luke turned his head and kept his eyes on him.

"She's got scars of her own, too, and it took just as much for her to show me hers."

Luke knew the scar but it was something they _never_ talked about. She wore bracelets covering it all of the time and he wasn't an idiot. He knew what that scar was but he didn't ask because he understood that about scars. A person with them would only talk about them when _they_ wanted to talk about it.

"She told me that we gotta stay who we are. Not who we were."

Daryl was quiet after that, finishing his cigarette, and Luke was quiet, letting those words roll around in his head for a few minutes.

"You can hate that woman all you want, Luke," Daryl said. "I'm not gonna tell you that you can't. I hate my ol' man for what he did to me and sometimes, all you can do is hate 'em to get through it." He looked at him then, his eyes intently settled on him. "As long as you don't let yourself feel _only_ hate."

He kept looking at him, to see if he understood, and Luke nodded because he did.

Luke stayed for the rest of the morning, sitting on the floor of Daryl's bay and finishing his sketch, as Daryl finished work on the car and when noon came and Dale closed the garage for the day, Daryl drove them home in his pickup truck.

They found the others in the backyard. It was hot and they had set up an inflatable pool in the grass, one that Hunter and Abby – in their bathing suits – were now splashing around in. Beth was kneeling in her vegetable garden, weeding as she kept an eye on them, and she saw Daryl and Luke coming through the back door, smiling at them as she stood up. She pulled off her gardening gloves as she came to them and without a word, she hugged Luke, kissing him on the head.

She didn't ask how it went and he was relieved for that.

"Want to go change into your swimming trunks?" She asked him. "I laid them out on your bed for you, just in case."

He nodded and she smiled, kissing his head again, before he turned to go back into the house. He looked over his shoulder, expecting them to be talking about him, but instead, he saw Beth push herself upwards and Daryl leaned down and they kissed.

"There was a spider in our bathtub so I closed the door and haven't been in there for hours," she then told him. "I was waiting until you got home."

Daryl smirked at that. "I know you only married me 'cause I kill your spiders."

And Beth just smiled up at him. "Did you think there was any other reason?"

Luke went inside and upstairs to change into his swimming trunks and when he came downstairs, Daryl had dragged the hose out to fill the pool with more water and Beth was kneeling down, spreading more sunscreen lotion on Hunter and Abby.

"Luke, you're next. Get over here!" She called out as soon as she saw him. "I'm not having any of you kids burn."

And Luke smiled a little to himself as he went over without argument.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	16. Birthday

**I needed some fluff so of course, I wrote a new chapter for the Dixon family. This is my go-to fluff universe and honestly, I see this story being a hundred chapters just because it makes me happy when I write it. **

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**Chapter Sixteen. **Birthday.

He kissed her slowly as if he was the prince, waking Sleeping Beauty up from her slumber. He kissed her as if they had all of the time in the world and she supposed that maybe they did. He laid over her, his body on top of hers but careful not to crush her beneath him; not that she would care if he did crush her because Beth always said that her favorite place in the world was in bed, beneath Daryl.

The sounds of the city woke them up; sounds they weren't used to hearing every other morning in their farmhouse. Cars honking and bells ringing and people shouting in the street to others as they walked past and the rushing of water in the fountain outside their room in the hotel's open courtyard.

It was an unplanned weekend.

Daryl had to go to New Orleans, meeting with a potential customer who wanted to talk with him about building a gazebo, and it just happened to be the weekend of Beth's thirty-first birthday. Beth hadn't been expecting anything for her birthday. After all, she was just turning thirty-one. It wasn't like it was a milestone birthday like her thirtieth had been the year before. She had just been expecting a nicer dinner that she didn't have to cook for celebration and that would be that. But Daryl had suggested she come to New Orleans with him and they make a weekend out of it and how could she refuse that?

They had gotten a room in a hotel just a block away from Bourbon Street and as it was October, it wasn't the height of tourist season so the French Quarter wasn't nearly as packed as it was during Mardi Gras or spring break.

Beth moaned softly as her fingers slowly tunneled through his hair and Daryl shifted on top of her, kissing her with a bit more pressure.

The day before, Daryl had been working, meeting with the client and discussing plans for the gazebo that was wanted, and Beth had spent her day, walking around the neighborhood, going into the shops, buying little souvenirs for her family, and eating beignets and had almost signed up for a walking haunted New Orleans tour but decided she didn't want to do that one without Daryl. Maybe for her birthday, they could do that together.

Daryl's lips slid down to the side of her throat and she tilted her head to the side, giving him better access to the expanse of sensitive skin. She moaned his name softly and her hands slid from his hair down his back.

In all of their years together, they have never gone away – just the two of them. They had gone to Atlanta but that was to get married and certainly didn't count and after that, they just stayed in their small town and lived their life together. When the kids came, there were day trips back to Atlanta or the couple of weekends to Savannah but Daryl and Beth had never been anywhere on their own. It was somewhat unbelievable that in all of these years together, there had never been an instance of them just getting away and spending some time alone.

Beth reminded herself that she didn't necessarily have to be quiet but it was habit and when her thighs parted further open and Daryl thrust inside of her for the first time that morning, her gasp was soft. Her legs instantly wound around his waist as he began pumping himself in and out of her and she kissed him, her mouth open and panting against him.

Again, Daryl moved slowly, taking his time, making love to her, and Beth whimpered and moaned softly and held onto him as tightly as if she was trying to keep him from every moving away from her. And when he was nearing his own end, Daryl dove his hand between their bodies to touch Beth and bring her right along with him.

In the minutes afterward, they laid there, panting, their sweaty bodies sticking together, and Beth closed her eyes, feeling her heart race in her chest and Daryl's warm exhales of breath on her cheek.

"We need to be more careful," Daryl mumbled as he slowly slipped off of her and all but collapsed beside her.

Beth cracked her eyes open and turned her head, looking at him, the question silent.

He smirked a little. "'m not lookin' to have a fourth. Are you?"

She laughed then softly and shook her head. "Not at the moment," she agreed.

Her answer only made Daryl raise his eyebrows. "At the moment?" He questioned.

She laughed again and rolled closer to him, lying on her stomach and resting her chin on his chest. Her index finger began tracing the tattoo of her name that he had over his heart. "You know what I mean," she said softly, her eyes sliding shut again.

His fingers moved through her hair, fiddling with the strands. "What do you wanna do today? 's your day."

Beth smiled, looking at him, finding his eyes already settled on her. "I want to eat crab cakes, drink margaritas, listen to some jazz music and go to a haunted house."

"That all?" He smirked.

"But first, we need to go to Café du Monde and eat beignets for breakfast," Beth said, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

"The guy yesterday told me that if you come to New Orleans, you need to go there at least once," Daryl said, sitting up, too.

"This will be my third time," she smiled.

He looked at her. "We haven't even been here twenty-four hours yet," he said but she just smiled a little wider and shrugged.

She took a shower and wrapping herself in the hotel's white fluffy robe, she returned to the bed, sitting down and dialing home. Maggie and Glenn had actually volunteered to watch the children for the weekend, Maggie explaining that she and Glenn wanted to get some practice of taking care of children. Daryl grumbled that after watching their kids, they would decide right quick to never have any of their own but Glenn had little sisters growing up and he had just shrugged. The Dixon kids could be a little wild but how bad could it be for just a couple of days?

"Hello?" Maggie answered, sounding breathless.

"Hi, Maggie," Beth smiled.

"Hey! Happy Birthday!" She exclaimed. "How's New Orleans?"

"Wonderful. And Daryl was able to have his meeting yesterday so we're spending the day together. I have it all planned out," Beth answered. "How is everything going there?" She asked, trying to listen for the kids in the background.

"Good, good," Maggie replied. "No deaths yet."

"Well, that's good," Beth laughed a little.

"Abby got up in the middle of the night to come to Glenn and me and she had trouble falling back asleep."

"In the closet or under the bed this time?" Beth asked. Abby was going through a monster phase, convinced there were at least two living in her bedroom no matter how many times Beth and Daryl checked every nook and cranny of the room, showing her that there was nothing there.

"Outside this time. Right outside her window," Maggie said. "We sat up with her in the living room and watched a couple of Disney movies. She fell asleep again eventually and she's outside with Luke and Hunter right now."

"Is it that bullfrog again?"

"Yep. They're pretty determined to catch it."

"They'll probably be out there until lunch," Beth said. "They're obsessed with catching it. I'm afraid Kyle will get to it first and kill it."

"Kyle went into the woods a while ago and hasn't been back since."

"He'll come back. He always does. Probably with a present for you."

"I can't wait to see what it is," Maggie laughed.

Beth lifted her eyes when Daryl stepped from the bathroom, fresh from the shower, and went to his bag on the floor, grabbing a pair of boxers, tugging them on.

"Well, tell them all that Daryl and I said hi," Beth said.

"I will. And I hope you have an awesome birthday," Maggie replied.

"I will," Beth answered with confidence before ending the call. "No disasters yet," she then told him, looking back to him.

Daryl smirked. "Day's just startin'," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed to tug on some socks.

Beth returned the phone to its cradle and then crawled to him, kneeling behind him and slipping her arms around his shoulders. Her lips brushed against his ear.

"I don't think you should get dressed yet," she murmured to him.

Daryl turned his head to look at her, smirking a little. "What should I be doin' instead?" He asked her.

She smiled faintly. "You should take off your socks."

…

They sat at one of the outdoor tables at the café, drinking cups of coffee and sharing a couple of beignets between them, listening to a man playing a saxophone on the corner. It had drizzled the night before and the sidewalks still glistened with water in the morning sun. The streets weren't too busy yet and Daryl sank a little lower in his chair, sipping his coffee and looking at Beth across the small round table, reading a pamphlet she had taken from the hotel's lobby.

"It's supposed to be the most haunted house in New Orleans. Some of it has been renovated into lofts but a large portion of it has been turned into a museum," Beth said, ripping off a corner of a beignet and bringing it to her mouth as she turned to the back of the pamphlet. "It's terrible, what this woman did to her slaves."

"And you wanna go hear about it on your birthday?" Daryl asked. This was the girl who buried her face in his chest if a scene in a movie was too dark, convinced that something, at any second, was going to jump out and scare her.

"Yep," Beth smiled. "I want to do things today that we wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Today is all about you and me, enjoying our first weekend away alone."

Daryl ripped off a piece of the beignet and popped it into his mouth. He hadn't really thought about it like that but then he wondered why he hadn't. In all the years they had been together, they had never been away like this – just the two of them. They hadn't even taken a honeymoon together after getting married in Atlanta one night years earlier. He wondered how all of this time had gotten away from them without doing something like this sooner.

After finishing their breakfast and drinking the rest of their coffees, they left the café and headed down the street, Beth instantly reaching for his hand, twining their fingers together. It was too early for crab cakes and margaritas so they headed towards the haunted house of Madame LaLaurie. The first tour didn't start for another few minutes so they headed into a nearby shop filled with the typical New Orleans tourist merchandise.

Daryl had never really been on vacation before. His trips to Savannah and Atlanta had always been for seeing to his wood-working jobs – or to get married – and had never been taken just to take it. This trip to New Orleans, it was the first time he had ever been out of Georgia and he looked to Beth looking at a rack of hooded sweatshirts. When people went on vacation, didn't they buy useless shit like shot glasses and postcards? He wasn't entirely sure why but he suddenly had an idea of him and Merle coming back one day during alligator season. Alligators in Louisiana were as plentiful as deer in Georgia and he didn't think Merle had ever taken an actual vacation either.

"Oh, I like these," Beth said, looking at a display of different braided bracelets. Daryl came to stand beside her and take a look and Beth smiled, slipping one onto his wrist before slipping one onto her own.

"Don't really think I'm a bracelet kind of guy," Daryl smirked a little but he didn't make a move to take it off and he paid for both bracelets before they left the store.

There were a few other people on the tour with them as the guide walked them through the house, telling about the woman and all of the horrors that had happened within these walls. Beth was pressed into his side for most of the time, half-expecting to see a ghost at any time, and his arm was draped casually around her shoulders, looking around at the way the house was decorated and wondering why rich people spent their money on such ornate crap like this.

Beth shuddered as soon as they stepped outside into the sunshine again. "It is definitely time for a drink," she said and Daryl smirked, reaching for her hand first this time, and they headed back down the street.

Bourbon Street was lined with bars, most with neon advertisements of margaritas hanging in the windows, and Beth pulled him into a random corner bar where she could hear music from inside. They sat at the bar and Beth ordered a margarita and Daryl ordered himself a glass of bourbon. They ate crab cakes and fried alligator and listened to the band already playing on the stage even though it was just a little past one in the afternoon.

"I think I want to do this next year, too, for my birthday," Beth said. "Just us, going somewhere we've never been before."

Daryl nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "Whatever you want," he said.

"And what about you? What do you want to do for your birthday this year?" She asked. "You're turning the big 4-4."

"Wasn't aware that was a big birthday," he said, grabbing another piece of alligator.

Beth didn't respond to that. "You know, when I first married you, that was one of the things Maggie had such a problem with. Our age difference. She thought you were too old for me."

"Your sister wasn' the only one who thought that," Daryl grumbled a little.

Beth continued as if she hadn't heard him. "I told her though that when I was in my thirties and you were in your forties, it wouldn't matter anymore. And it doesn't. Age differences really don't matter the older you get."

"If you say so," he replied.

"I do say so," Beth said and nudged his knee with hers. "Do you still think I'm too young for you?" She asked.

During their time together, before they got married and even after they did, she knew it was one of the things – the many things – Daryl had had a doubt over. More with himself than with her. Always thinking he wasn't good enough for her. Too old and too poor and how she could do a million times better with _any_ other guy than him.

It had taken a long time but he had worked through all of that. Or at least, she thought he had. Hadn't they been together long enough for no more doubts to remain in that thick skull of his?

Daryl looked at her for a moment and then shook his head. "Nah," he said, taking another bite of alligator. "I think it's pretty damn obvious who the mature one between us is."

"And the smart one," she teased him with a smile.

He smirked and she leaned in and kissed him. He ordered her another margarita and another bourbon for himself.

"Trying to get me drunk?" She smiled before draining the rest of her first.

"Yeah," he nodded without pause. "I've always known that I have to get you drunk if I want you to have sex with me."

Beth snorted and then covered her mouth with her hand, laughing and blushing with embarrassment, and Daryl gave one of those rare actual smiles of his. She didn't have to remind him who made the first move before the first time they slept together. She had been so nervous before she kissed him for the first time but so brave in the seconds after and she knew the instant her lips touched his that they were going to be together. She hadn't had a single doubt in her mind.

The second strawberry margarita was placed in front of her and Beth almost instantly took a gulp, already feeling her head spin a little. She didn't really drink but if there was any time to do it, it was on her 31st birthday with her husband in New Orleans with no children in sight.

"I want to go to Nashville for my next birthday," she said.

Daryl nodded in agreement as he usually always did when Beth wanted something. She leaned into him again and kissed him once more, her lips lingering on his.

"If you could do it all over again, would you still stop and help me with my flat tire?"

Daryl looked at her then for a moment, wondering if she was already drunk. She must have been if she asked that question.

She was still leaning into him, her eyes blinking into his, her hands resting on his thighs. And he couldn't help but lift a hand to the side of her neck, his thumb swiping along the rounded apple of her cheek.

"Yeah."

It was all he said but it was said in a low voice, a voice that left no room for a different interpretation than what that one word actually meant, and his eyes stared into hers.

He didn't even have to think about it before answering. What was there to think about? It had been ten years and he didn't even think about any sort of life he would have for himself if Beth Greene had never entered it. There was no point in thinking about it because this, with her, this was the only life he was supposed to have. He had broken the mold of all of the Dixons who came before him and it was all because of this woman in front of him and her flat tire.

And Beth, knowing better than anyone that Daryl Dixon was a man of few words but he always said just the right words, burst into a smile as if she had expected him to say anything else and she pressed her lips against his.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**

**One last author's note: I know some of you were really excited but I have decided to delete _A New World_. I'm sorry about that. It didn't really turn out the way I wanted to and I had doubts about doing that to the _Waiting on You_ story. I'm sorry. I just wasn't happy with it at all. At the moment, I'm going to just be working on _The Orchard_ and _The White House_ and maybe a follow-up to _Cornerstone_. **


	17. Career

**Since this is really just a collection of one-shots about the Dixon family, please let me know if there is anything specific you would like to read. Thank you!**

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**Chapter Seventeen. **Career.

"I think it's sweet," Beth smiled.

Daryl just frowned at her in response. He didn't see anything sweet about this but when Hunter had come running into the garage after school, waving a piece of paper from his second grade teacher, Aaron Harris, and talking about career day, Hunter had looked so excited about it, Daryl heard himself agreeing to come before he was able to stop himself and tell his son that it was probably best if he asked his mom instead of him. But when Daryl said yes, Hunter had whooped and hugged him and started talking about how cool it was going to be, having Daryl come talk to his class.

And that night at dinner, Hunter had only talked about it more, Beth smiling the whole time as she listened to him, but Daryl hadn't said a word, only frowning to himself and wondering if there was a way for him to get himself out of this.

He knew there wasn't and he knew he would go, of course. He had already told Hunter and Hunter was just so damn excited.

"He's proud of you," Beth said after dinner and she and Daryl were cleaning up the kitchen. Daryl did nothing but let out some sort of grunt. Beth looked at him. "He is. He wants to show you off to his classmates."

"What the hell am I gonna tell a bunch of kids?" Daryl's frown deepened.

"You have a thousand things you can tell them," Beth told him and he wondered if she ever got exhausted, playing the constant cheerleader, always so damn optimistic and finding the bright side of things. Didn't she know no good could come of this?

"'m just gonna embarrass him," he mumbled.

Beth looked at him, a mixture of surprise and confusion swirling in her eyes. "What are you talking about?" She asked, her voice almost in a demanding tone.

Daryl just keep frowning and crossed his arms over his chest. "'m just a mechanic, Beth," he then said as if he had to remind her of this.

"So?" Beth asked, still confused. She shook her head. "That's not all you are and even if you were, why isn't that a good job? It's a _specialty_, Daryl. Not everyone knows how to fix cars. If everyone knew, there would be no need for mechanics."

Daryl grunted again and said nothing else.

Later, as they were all getting ready for bed, Hunter came racing into their bedroom and hopped up onto the bed. His grin practically engulfed his entire face as Daryl came out of the bathroom and saw him.

"Get to bed," Daryl said gruffly.

"Can you tell everyone about the Firebird?" Hunter asked.

"If you wan'," Daryl said, pulling the covers of the bed back as far as he could despite Hunter being on them. Beth came into the room then from having tucked Abby into bed for the night and Daryl looked at her. "Tell 'im to go to bed," he said.

Beth just smiled and went into the bathroom.

"And you'll tell them all about the woodshop, too? And hunting?" Hunter asked, sitting up on his knees eagerly.

"Yeah," Daryl nodded and lifted Hunter up, putting him on Beth's side of the bed so he could lay down on his, sliding in between the covers.

"It's gonna be so awesome, dad," Hunter kept going. "All of the other kids, their parents have just one job but you have a million!"

Daryl couldn't help but frown a little at that. "That's not really a good thing, Hunter," he said, adjusting his head on the pillow and not looking at the boy.

"Why not?" Hunter's smile began to slip.

Daryl shrugged. "Usually means that I need to do a million things so I have enough money to take care of your mom and you kids."

Hunter's smile was gone completely now and Daryl instantly felt like shit. His kid was excited about all of this and Daryl shouldn't take that away from him. Right now, Hunter was young enough to still think that his dad was cool. Daryl shouldn't want that to end. He was sure when the kids got all older, they would wise up.

"I can talk about this house, too, if you wan'." Daryl tried to get him to smile again.

It worked.

"Yeah," Hunter beamed. "You can show them all the magazine article!"

"If you wan'," Daryl said again with a nod.

Beth came out of the bathroom, rubbing lotion onto her hands. "Time for bed, Hunter."

Hunter hopped down from the bed without argument and raced from the room, calling a "good night!" over his shoulder as he went. Beth went around the bed to her side and lifting the covers, she slipped between them, laying down beside him.

She leaned in and kissed him on the side of his head. "There's a reason he didn't ask me to come instead," she murmured to him. "Good night."

And with that, she turned off the lamp on the nightstand beside the bed and rolled onto her side, closing her eyes. Daryl continued to lay there, blinking up at the ceiling, not feeling tired in the least. He listened to the crickets outside and the occasional creak of wood in their old house and Beth's soft breathing beside him and all of the sounds were familiar; comforting in a way. But they didn't lull him to sleep as they usually did. He heard one of the kids coughed in their sleep. He heard the faint tinkle of the bell around Kyle's collar when the cat jumped up and curled into a ball at the foot of their bed.

He reminded himself that it wasn't like it used to be. The Dixon name no longer meant what it used to. He was a hard-working man. A family man. Was nothing like his old man or any of the other Dixon men to come before him.

And the town knew it. He had a wife and three kids who all shared the Dixon last name and when something bad happened in town, the blame didn't automatically fall to a Dixon. Times had changed. Daryl wasn't the red-neck trash resident anymore. When people saw him in town, they didn't automatically put distance between themselves and him and look anywhere but him.

The kids in Hunter's class were too young to know how it used to be. He would go talk to them and they would only know him as Hunter's dad… and maybe it would be alright. Hunter was too young to know quite what embarrassment was and Daryl wasn't going to let himself be embarrassed in front of a bunch of seven-year-olds.

He was a Dixon. He was used to the judgment of others and he never let it get to him before. He wasn't going to let anyone who couldn't make their own lunch get to him. If Hunter wanted him to talk to his class, he would do it without any more complaints. If Hunter was really proud of him, as Beth had said, Daryl would do what he had to do to make sure it stayed that way.

…

"Mr. Dixon."

Daryl stepped into the classroom and instantly, Hunter's teacher, Aaron, approached him, his hand extended. Daryl shook it.

"Daryl," he corrected him. Mr. Dixon just sounded too damn weird.

Aaron smiled at him. "I'm so glad you were able to come in today. Hunter has been going on and on about you."

Daryl didn't say anything to that but he felt the back of his neck flush a little. He stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and gave his shoulders a shrug.

"Not too sure what to talk about exactly. I've got a few things," he said.

Aaron just kept on smiling but it was a smile that didn't make Daryl nervous. It was a smile that people gave when they genuinely found something to smile about. He recognized it well. Beth was always smiling like that.

"You can talk to them about anything," Aaron told him. "I know the kids are tired hearing about the usual jobs."

"Usual jobs?" Daryl grunted.

"We've had a lawyer and a doctor and a cook come in and talk with them."

Daryl's eyes lowered to the floor. Right. The usual jobs. The jobs that meant actually meant something. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea, agreeing to come here.

"And I admit, I've been excited to hear you speak since Hunter said you would be," Aaron said and Daryl gave a nod but said nothing.

A bell rang suddenly and then moments later, he heard the stampede of running feet. Kids started streaming into the classroom then, cheeks rosy from recess outside, and Daryl's eyes instantly fell on Hunter, who saw him at the same time and who's smile burst instantly across his face, taking it over completely. Daryl gave him a small smile in return.

"Alright, kids," Aaron called out over the noise. "Take your seats so we can get started. We have a special guest with us to continue with Career Day. We have Hunter's dad, Daryl, here to speak with you about what he does for a living."

The kids were all seated now in their rows of desks and Daryl found Hunter sitting in his desk, center row, three back from the front, and Hunter was still beaming.

Aaron took a step back then and gave Daryl a nod, signaling to him that he could begin. Daryl looked back over the kids – at the twenty kids all turned to him. Forty eyes staring at him. Daryl had never liked being the center of attention like this.

"Um," he began but then immediately cleared his throat. "I'm a mechanic over at Dale's Auto Garage. That means I work on and fix cars." He was quiet for a beat, trying to think of what else to say. "And I own a little business of my own. Woodwork. I build all sorts of things for people in town and all 'round the state. I just finished up a job I had in New Orleans for a man who wanted a gazebo built."

"Hunter's brought pictures from home," Aaron stepped in then, holding a stack of pictures as well as the magazine in which Sasha had written an article about him for.

Aaron handed them over to the first student in the front desk with a quiet instruction to pass them back once she had finished looking through them and Daryl cleared his throat again.

"'m also a hunter and sell some of the meat of the animals I get," he added.

"My daddy buys deer from you all of the time," a girl spoke up and Daryl looked at her. Penny Blake, who's daddy was Philip. Not his favorite customer. Something about the guy just never settled right with Daryl though he didn't know what it was because the guy had always been nice enough to him.

Daryl gave a nod. "'s right."

"What does deer taste like?" Another kid, a boy, asked.

"I've brought deer jerky from home!" Hunter suddenly exclaimed, reaching into his desk. "We hunt it and clean it and then smoke it. It's the best!"

Daryl couldn't help but be surprised that Hunter had seemed to bring so much from home to show the other students but he smiled a little, feeling a little bit relieved and a bit more relaxed as well though he still felt a rigidness in his back. He felt like he really had no idea what he was doing, standing up here.

Aaron went to go collect the fistfuls of jerky Hunter had and began distributing them to the eager kids, taking one for himself and then handing the last one to Daryl.

A girl in the far back raised her hand.

"Uh, yeah," Daryl said, not too sure what else to do.

"How do you skin a rabbit?" She asked rather unexpectedly. "My brother went hunting with my uncle and he tried to do it but he's an idiot and didn't do it right at all even though he swore he knew what he was doing."

"Uh, well…" Daryl looked to Aaron, a little unsure if he should talk about it but Aaron just munched on his deer jerky and gave Daryl a smile. "A'right. Well, you draw your knife around each of the four joints, rippin' it gently back. You should be able to peel it back from the body like a banana after that."

"That's cruel," another girl said, frowning at her desk.

"It's already dead," Hunter frowned at her.

"You made this?" A boy asked, holding up a picture and Daryl took a couple of steps forward to see what he was referring to, seeing the picture of the dollhouse he had built for Abby as well as every piece of doll furniture inside of it.

"Yeah," Daryl nodded. "That was for Hunter's little sister. And 'm startin' work on a playhouse in the backyard for her now."

"All from wood?" The same boy asked.

"All from wood," Hunter nodded and beamed at Daryl.

Daryl smiled a little in response. "And, uh, I'm also workin' on restorin' a car. Hunter's helpin' me. We found it, rustin' out in a junkyard, and we took it home and we work on it together on the weekends, puttin' it back to how it used to be."

There were murmurs then from other students of how cool that was and somehow, Hunter's smile grew wider.

"My dad can hardly mow the grass in straight lines," one student said.

"My dad can't do _anything_. He has to call someone anytime something in our house needs fixing," another said.

Daryl did his best to not smirk that that.

He talked for just a few minutes more about cars and his other carpentry projects before he had to go back to work. Aaron thanked him over and over again and shook his hand for coming and all of the students gave him a loud applause.

"Alright, Hunter," Aaron said, handing out the hall pass. "You can walk your dad down to the front office," he said and Hunter immediately flew from his desk, taking the hall pass and Daryl's hand and tugging him from the classroom.

The hallway was quiet and empty as all of the other classes were in session and Daryl walked with him down towards the front office and the main front doors.

"You were awesome, dad," Hunter grinned up at him. "I knew you would be. No one else who came to talk to us is anything like you."

Now that it was over and done with, Daryl found himself breathing a little easier, the tight knot in his stomach loosening until it was almost gone entirely.

"'m glad I could come," Daryl said and found himself to actually mean it. "And thanks for bringin' those pictures and the jerky. Didn' know you were gonna do that."

"Mama helped me. It was my idea and she said it would help you," Hunter said. "Did it help?"

"It did," Daryl nodded. "Was smart of you to think of it."

Outside the front office, they stopped and Hunter didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around his waist in a hug. Daryl smiled a little and hugged him back.

"You're the coolest dad, dad," Hunter then said, tilting his head up towards him, and Daryl knew that Hunter would say that to him no matter how this afternoon had gone but still, hearing his son say that to him, he had to admit that it made him feel pretty damn good.

And hopefully, that was something Hunter would keep thinking about him for a while.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	18. Jealous

**I am so happy that so many of you love this House Call universe. When I first wrote _House Call_, I never thought it would expand like this but I'm so glad it has because this universe is my happy place. And I'm so glad it makes you happy, too. Thank you for reading and wanting more and for all of the suggestions for later chapters!**

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**Chapter Eighteen. **Aiden.

He still picked her up at the daycare center most evenings. The school bus dropped the boys off in the afternoon and they stayed there with Beth for a couple of hours until Daryl left the garage at the end of the day and came to get them to go home.

When he came that evening, it was a few minutes after five and the center was experiencing their second rush of the day – the first being in the morning – of parents returning from work to pick up their kids for the night and he saw Beth helping a little girl put her shoes on. He found their own kids in one of the back classrooms, Luke sitting on the floor with Abby, both plays with tubs of Play-Doh, and Hunter was lying on his stomach on the floor, a pop-up book open in front of him, his legs kicking in the air.

"Dad!" He exclaimed when he saw him. "Did you know that the velociraptor was actually covered in feathers?" Hunter had recently discovered an interest in dinosaurs and it seemed like at least five times a day, he shared a newly learned fact with someone in his family.

"I didn' know that," Daryl said as he stepped further into the room and sat himself down on the floor with Luke and Abby, Abby smiling at him and instantly handing him a ball of green Play-Doh. Daryl smiled at her in return.

Daryl had better hearing than most. Could hear the tiny scamper of an animal in the woods. Could hear when the slight breeze blowing changed directions. And even with the noise of kids and parents alike in the daycare center, he could hear Beth. She was laughing – soft and light and Daryl's ears twitched at the sound of it.

Curious, his eyes went to the door as if expecting to see her there. She wasn't though and he could hear the voices of others and then Beth's laughter again. A minute later, she appeared in the classroom and smiled when she saw all of them.

"You guys ready to go home?" She asked.

Hunter leapt to his feet, taking the book with him. "Can I take this home with me?" He asked, holding the pop-up book in his hands.

"We'll have to bring it back tomorrow," Beth nodded and then smiled at Daryl as he was tying Abby's tennis shoe. He then lifted his head and looked at her, flicking his head to get the hair out of his eyes.

"Hey," he grunted. "Everything a'right?" He asked.

She looked at him curiously. "Yes. Why wouldn't it be?" She asked.

And Daryl had no idea why he had asked that. There really wasn't a reason to. Most people didn't laugh if there was something wrong. And if there was something wrong with her, Beth wouldn't be able to hide it from him. She had always had a shitty poker face and Daryl had been always able to read her within a few seconds.

They got the kids together and Beth grabbed her jacket and bag and Daryl drove them all home for the night. Kyle spent most of his days outside and the cat was now sitting on the front porch, his tail swishing lazily back and forth as he awaited their return – and for his dinner inside.

It was the usual night. After dinner, Luke did his homework at the dining room table and Hunter went upstairs to read his dinosaur book and Daryl went into the basement, where he worked at his workbench as he did when it got too chilly in the evenings to work outside in his shed. Abby came down to stand on an overturned milk crate and watched him as he smoothed down planks of wood that he was using to build her a playhouse for the backyard. And Beth was in the living room, giving a weekly piano lesson to Judith Grimes, who rode her bike over to their house from hers.

And the next day, their routine began all over again.

They got up and got themselves ready for the day and ate bowls of cereals and pieces of toast before Beth and Daryl watched Luke and Hunter get onto their school bus and then Daryl drove Beth and Abby to the daycare center. The daycare center had a woman, Jessie, who taught preschool and Abby was enrolled that year, learning colors and letters and numbers and as she was in her classroom with the other four and five-year-olds enrolled, Beth and Lori Grimes handled the younger children for the day and Daryl worked his nine hours at Dale's Auto Garage.

He came back to the daycare center around the same time that evening as he always did and this time, he instantly heard his wife singing. He walked into the large front classroom and sat Beth sitting cross-legged floor on the floor with children around her and her guitar in her arms, her fingers plucking at the strings. A few parents were standing around, everyone listening to her as she sang a soft song about going to California.

"Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair/Took my chances on a big jet plane, never let them tell you that they're all the same/The sea was red and the sky was grey, wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today."

Daryl stood in the back with his arms crossed loosely over his chest and his eyes set on her. Even after all of their years together, he never got tired of listening to her sing. And as if she could sense his newly arrived presence, Beth lifted her eyes then, instantly spotting him, and a faint smile graced across her lips.

"You're Beth's husband, aren't you?" A voice appearing from beside him asked.

Daryl turned his head and looked at the guy. It was a small town and he and Beth had been together long enough but he looked at the guy with too white teeth and a head of dark, neatly cut hair and he didn't recognize him.

"Aiden Monroe," he said, reading Daryl's mind, his smile staying in place. "Me and my daughter, Cassie, just moved to town."

Daryl grunted but didn't say anything.

"Beth's really good with her. The divorce was a nasty one and Cassie's a bit sensitive at the moment – what with the move and being away from her mom and everything. But Beth can make her smile as if nothing's happened at all," Aiden went on and Daryl only listened to him with one ear as he kept most of his attention still focused on Beth. "So, you're Beth's husband, right?" Aiden asked again.

"Yeah," Daryl finally grunted his answer.

There was a beat and then a "Huh," from Aiden that made Daryl look at him again.

Aiden smiled at Daryl's frown. "Just interesting," he said with a shrug and Daryl's frown grew heavier towards him but he didn't say anything.

When he and Beth had gotten married after sneaking around for a year, he became used to these sorts of reactions from people. If they weren't mad about the whole damn thing, they were confused – not understanding how sweet, young and pretty Beth Greene could marry redneck trash like Daryl Dixon. He was older and people with his last name didn't have the best reputation around these parts but Beth never saw any of that and eventually, others stopped seeing that, too.

Aiden being new to town and being confused once he found out about Daryl and Beth was just part of the norm but Daryl couldn't stop frowning. He had just met him but there was something about Aiden Monroe that made him want to frown.

Beth finished her song and the kids and parents alike all clapped for her and Beth laughed softly, thanking them as they all got to their feet. She set the guitar aside and bent down, hefting Abby up in her arms, before coming over to Daryl.

"Hey, you," Beth smiled up at him and then raised herself on her toes, kissing him.

"Hey," Daryl said in return, much quieter, and took Abby from her arms into his.

"That was amazing, Beth," Aiden said and Beth turned her head to him, her smile constant on her face but Beth smiling at another guy didn't worry Daryl. He never worried; didn't see a point to it. He trusted her; no reason not to. They were married and had three kids together. He was pretty sure Beth was sticking with him. Besides – Beth smiled at everyone.

"Thank you, Aiden," Beth said, sounding gracious as always. "Will you be coming by Gareth's tonight?"

"Definitely," Aiden answered without hesitation. "Seven o'clock?"

"Seven o'clock," Beth nodded, still smiling. "See you there."

Daryl didn't say anything as he and Beth, again, got the kids ready and Daryl drove them back home where they ate dinner and went about their nightly routines – though tonight was a little different. One Wednesday and Thursday a month, Beth would perform at Garth's coffee shop – a gig she had had since before even marrying Daryl. And Daryl went with her to every performance and one of their family members came to babysit the kids for the couple of hours they were gone.

Tonight, it was Merle and just as Beth had gone upstairs to get herself ready, Daryl heard the rumble of his brother's truck coming up the dirt drive and Hunter ran outside to meet him. Merle came into the house, Hunter on his back, and Abby came hurrying over to greet him as well, Merle grinning and picking Abby up, giving her a loud smacking kiss on her cheek and making the little girl giggle.

"You know where the numbers are," Daryl said, grabbing his jacket.

"I think I can remember the number for 911, lil' brother," Merle grinned.

"There better not be a reason to call it, Merle Dixon!" Beth shouted from upstairs, having overheard him say it.

"Not my fault your kids are damn pyros!" Merle shouted back.

"And it's too late for them now so no more sugar," Daryl said.

Hunter immediately opened his mouth to argue as he slid from Merle's back and Merle gently placed Abby down on her feet.

"Not even pudding?" Hunter asked. "Why did mom make it if we can't eat it?"

"'Cause we like to torture you," Daryl commented back.

"You used to have three," Merle commented, looking around but not seeing Luke.

"He's up in his room. Got some test tomorrow that he's studying for," Daryl said.

Merle grinned, chuckling a little and shaking his head. "Must get that from his mama," he said and Daryl smirked a little because he couldn't argue with that.

Beth came down the stairs then, her hair down with a few locks pinned back from her face, and she wore a black dress and cowboy boots, and Daryl looked at her as he usually always did.

"I already said good-night to Luke," she said and looked to Hunter. "And you make sure you leave him alone. He needs to study." She looked to Merle next. "If you know anything about the presidents, maybe you can help him."

Merle just snorted. "All I know 'bout presidents is we're better off without 'em."

Beth gave Hunter and Abby hugs and kisses and made them promise that they would be good for their Uncle Merle and she then made Merle promise that she would come home to find all three kids still in one piece.

"Don't know if I can promise you that, honey buns," Merle grinned at her.

Beth rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Be good," she then said to all of them, Merle included.

Daryl drove his motorcycle whenever they didn't have the kids to cart around, too, and Beth sat behind him, her arms wrapped snuggly around his waist and her body pressed against his tightly from behind. He smiled a little when he pulled to a stop in front of Gareth's because he looked at Beth and she almost looked disappointed that the ride was already over.

"We need to do that more often," She told him as he took her hand and helped her climb off and he nodded because there was no way he was going to refuse when it came to her suggesting they take more rides together.

They had dropped her guitar off at the shop on their way home earlier that evening and it was now set up on the small stage, waiting for her as long a microphone and a stool though Beth hardly sat down while performing.

Maggie and Glenn were already there and Daryl went to go get his usual cup of black coffee before joining them. It was pretty full that evening, Daryl noted, and as Maggie talked about the new neighbor that had just moved in next door to them that blasted Black Sabbath at all hours of the day, Daryl's face quickly fell into a frown when he spotted Aiden. Sitting at the table in front of the stage as if he was Beth's biggest fan. He was smiling at her as Beth stepped onto the stage and she saw him and smiled in return.

"You're scowling," Glenn pointed out to him.

"How can you tell?" Maggie teased.

Daryl ignored them both though in favor of staring daggers at Aiden. Daryl actually didn't hate a lot of people. Took too much energy to hate people who didn't really care about. If anything, he was mostly indifferent towards most. But he had just met Aiden Monroe that afternoon and he was pretty sure that already, Daryl hated him.

He couldn't be too sure what it was about him. Actually, that was a lie because he knew exactly what it was. While Beth smiled at him with her warmth and kindness as she smiled at everyone, Aiden smiled at her as if he was undressing her with his eyes. And the more Daryl watched Aiden smiling at _his_ wife, the more he just wanted to go over and punch Aiden flat on his back.

Daryl had never been possessive over Beth before. He wasn't that kind of guy and why should he be? Everyone knew they were together and even if they didn't, he and Beth knew it and no one mattered more than that.

But Aiden Monroe had found Daryl's annoyance button and was just holding it down without end. Aiden knew that Beth was obviously married and he didn't seem to care because if he did, he wouldn't be smiling at Beth like that or looking at her like he was trying to imagine what she was like in bed.

Beth began. Her set was never that long. Just a few songs. Some covers and some she had written herself and that night, she began with some Taylor Swift song and the only reason Daryl knew it was a Taylor Swift song was because Beth was listening to her newest CD constantly lately as she learned the music for herself.

After each song, everyone in the coffee shop clapped and cheered for her and Beth always laughed a little as if she was embarrassed and Daryl noted that Aiden seemed to be clapping louder and harder than everyone else. He felt his fist tighten.

Daryl was never one to punch people or get into fights. That was more of Merle's thing. And Daryl was teaching his kids – especially his sons – that they shouldn't fight to sort out their difference with others and he reminded himself of this now. But some guy leering at his wife wasn't just some small difference. It was almost as if Aiden was asking to be punched in the face.

He was more than used to guys smiling and looking at Beth and most of the time, he couldn't blame them. Beth was the prettiest girl in town and one of the prettiest in the whole state – of that, he had no doubt. But it never bothered him before because he knew that Beth was coming home with him and sleeping with him and none of those other guys stood a chance and they knew it, too.

But with Aiden, Daryl knew Beth would never smile at him in any other way except her usual kind way but this time, it bothered Daryl because he knew that Aiden actually thought he stood a chance – as if her last name or the ring on her finger meant absolutely nothing.

Aiden Monroe – whether he knew it or not – was just begging to be punched.

The loud applause dragged Daryl out of his thoughts and he saw Beth taking off her guitar and thanking everyone so much for coming out to listen to her. He had missed her entire set and it just made him scowl more. Aiden was messing with him in more ways than one.

Aiden said something to her as she stepped down from the stage and Beth smiled, clearly thanking him, before heading towards their table, her smile even more bright now as she came straight to Daryl. She slid her arms around his neck and settled herself down on his lap, his own arm winding around her waist.

"So, when are you going to get a record deal already?" Maggie asked and Beth laughed a little, her cheeks flushed.

She looked to Daryl and Daryl turned his head to look at her and with a faint smile and without a word, she lifted her index finger and ran it over his forehead, smoothing out the lines there furrowing his brow.

"I'm surprised you haven't punched him yet," Beth then commented casually.

Daryl looked at her for a moment before smirking. It didn't really surprise him that Beth had been able to read his mind because even though he kept his face blank most of the time, no one knew him like Beth.

"Not gonna punch 'im," he shook his head and tightened his arm around her. "I know you can take care of yourself."

And Beth giggled lightly, looking damn pleased that he knew that, and she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. When she pulled back again, she was still smiling at him and his own lips twitched in a little smile of his own. She turned her head towards Glenn and Maggie and started talking with them but Daryl honestly didn't hear a word.

He couldn't help but have his eyes slide back towards the table in front of the stage, finding that it was now empty and Aiden was gone. His smile grew a little wider.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	19. Fight

**Upcoming chapters will include Daryl/Abby time (very popular request), Daryl and Beth's ten-year-anniversary, and one of Luke's art shows. Plus whatever the hell random idea comes to me. Thank you so much for your continued support of this story. **

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**Chapter Nineteen. **Fight.

Beth had been reminding him all week. Friday evening, they were all meeting at Hershel's favorite Italian restaurant for his birthday and Daryl had heard and nodded each time. Of course he would be there. Hershel was a great man who he respected immensely; who had looked past his last name and had only showed support when Daryl had come to the farmhouse with Beth, wanting to marry her. The man had welcomed him into his family without a hint of doubt or judgment.

Of course Daryl would be there for the man's birthday dinner.

But the garage was always busy on Fridays and when a car was towed in at four o'clock that afternoon and Dale asked Daryl if he could take a look at it, Daryl had agreed as he always did. It was only four and Hershel's dinner wasn't until six. He would have plenty of time. And every minute after five, Dale would be paying him overtime and Daryl was never one to turn away from an opportunity to make some extra money. He didn't think it would take him that long anyway.

Beth had called the garage at five minutes after five, wondering where he was. Daryl had been surprised at the time and told her that he would be there soon. He just had to get himself cleaned up and then he would be on his way. But then he had found another crack in the engine block and had gotten distracted. It happened sometimes. When he was working on a car and found one problem and then another and another, Daryl saw it as a personal challenge to him to fix it. Even if someone told him that a car was past the point of fixing, Daryl wouldn't – almost _couldn't_ – give up.

He knew he had to get out of there. He couldn't miss Hershel's birthday dinner. He didn't think the man would mind that much – not too much seemed to actually anger Hershel – but Daryl didn't want to miss it. And he knew that even if Hershel wouldn't be mad at him about missing it, Beth would be and even though he had hunted bucks who weighed more than his wife, Beth was a hellion when angry and he didn't ever really feel like testing her.

When he finally got out of the garage, it was almost seven-thirty and Daryl knew he was in deep shit. He jogged for his truck and didn't even stop to wash up first, showing up at the restaurant in dirty jeans and a tee-shirt with oil and grease spots and hands to match. The whole Greene family was there so their table was the largest in the restaurant, several square tables pushed together in the middle of the dining room. Hershel and Annette, Maggie and Glenn, Shawn and his newest girlfriend, Rosita, a waitress from the diner, – who the entire family liked and hoped this one actually lasted – Beth and the three kids, who exclaimed when he finally walked in.

"Dad!" Luke and Hunter both called out and Daryl hurried over, everyone turning their heads to look at him.

Everyone was smiling at him but his eyes went to Beth but she was the only one not looking at him, instead smoothing her napkin folded in her lap.

"'m sorry I'm so late," Daryl said, going over to Hershel and shaking the man's hand.

"Don't worry about it, son," Hershel smiled up at him. "I'm just glad you're here now. Work busy?"

Daryl nodded. "Finished it up though."

There was an empty chair next to Beth and he walked around the table to it, sitting down beside her though Beth still wasn't looking at him. They had already eaten and now, there were cups of coffee and empty plates from the cake they had had for dessert. A waiter appeared, asking Daryl if he wanted anything to eat or drink.

"Order something to eat, Daryl. We don't mind sitting here for a while," Annette smiled from across the table and Daryl gave a head nod, the waiter handing him a menu to look over.

"You should wash your hands," Beth murmured from beside him and he turned his head to look at her. She still wasn't looking at him though.

"Yeah," Daryl said as he stood up again.

"I gotta go, too!" Hunter exclaimed, practically leaping to his feet.

In the bathroom, he stood at the sink for nearly five minutes, scrubbing his hands as best as he could – getting rid of the dirt, grease and oil and Hunter handed him paper towels and pointed out to spots he had missed.

Back at the table, Shawn and Rosita were telling a story about a date they had gone to in Atlanta and had everyone laughing and Annette was giving her son clear looks about not ending this one. Shawn was a serial dater, always having a new girlfriend every time the family saw him and Annette and Hershel wondered if he would ever be ready to settle down. Shawn never seemed to be too interested in it though. He was having fun, as he liked to remind them all.

The waiter came back around and Daryl ordered the rigatoni with chicken and mushrooms and Abby crawled into his lap, resting her head tiredly against his chest as Glenn and him started talking about the car at the shop Daryl had been working on. He would keep glancing over to Beth but she didn't look at him once; busy talking with Maggie or Rosita or keeping Hunter still in his seat and it seemed like she didn't even notice him sitting next to her.

They were at the restaurant for another hour as Daryl ate and everyone had their fair share of coffee and when the bill finally arrived, Maggie, Shawn and Beth paid for the meal, scolding Hershel when he made even the slightest move for his wallet.

In the parking lot, the family all hugged one another good-night as if they wouldn't all see one another the next day again for one thing or another and Daryl helped Beth get the kids into her Subaru. She didn't get in though. Instead, she closed the door once Abby was buckled in and finally turned on Daryl, her arms crossed over her chest. Daryl stood there, not moving or squirming. He had been waiting for this.

"You look real pretty tonight," Daryl said though he knew complimenting her would probably only piss her off more.

"Where were you?" Beth asked even though she already knew the answer.

Daryl took a deep breath, preparing for the gauntlet to be dropped.

They didn't fight a lot. Hardly ever. He knew other couples – Rick and Lori, Maggie and Glenn –had disagreements nearly every day with one another. It was normal – apparently. That's what Rick said about it. But Beth and Daryl had never been like that. Even for as different as they were from one another, there was just something that clicked. It clicked the second they met and they got along in such a way, fighting and disagreements were just never part of their relationships. It wasn't that they _never_ fought. Those fights were just few and far in between.

"Was at the garage. A car came in at the last second and I started workin' on it. Couldn' seem to get myself to stop," he did his best to explain.

"You knew about tonight. You knew it was a dinner for my dad's birthday and I don't care what he said in there. You being here was important, Daryl," Beth said.

"I know it was," he said. "But I showed up. Ain't like I didn' come at all."

"You didn' even wash up!" Her voice rose a little.

"No, I didn', cause I knew I was runnin' late and I wanted to just get here," he said and even though he told himself not to, he found himself frowning at her. "Dale was paying me overtime to be there. You know how much money I just made tonight?"

He expected Beth to blow a gasket at that but instead, she just stared at him and he saw her visibly exhale as if everything inside of her just deflated. It wasn't the reaction he was expecting at all and he found himself taking a step towards her, stopping himself though and making sure there was still a distance between them.

"You worry about money too much, Daryl," Beth said in a quiet voice.

Daryl found himself frowning heavier now. "That's 'cause we don't have it, Beth."

"We have enough. We have all we need, Daryl. You don't need to break your back anymore working like you do. We have enough," Beth repeated. "And even if we didn't… this isn't what life is supposed to be like, Daryl. It's not supposed to be constantly thinking about or worrying about money. This is what it's about," she pointed to the restaurant. "Your family and being with the people who love you."

Daryl didn't know what to say to that. This fight wasn't going the way he thought it would. He almost would have preferred if Beth was screaming her head off at him.

"Are you sayin' I don't spend enough time with you?" He asked in a grunt.

She shook her head. "I'm saying that you could spend more."

"That's bullshit, Beth," he couldn't help from biting out. "Who the hell do you think I'm breakin' my back for all the time?"

Beth stared at him for a moment. "Have I ever, even once, asked you to do that? To work yourself to the bone? To come home late and leave home early? Or when you're home, to still be working? Do you, for one second, think that I want you to do that?"

"We got three kids," he said. "And I don't know if you've noticed, but we live in a house a hell of a lot bigger than some shack in the woods and the bills are a little bit bigger now 'cause of it."

"You don't get it, Daryl," Beth shook her head. "It's not about the money. Everything shouldn't have to be about the money. I know you think it is but it's not. It's about you being with me and the kids and that's all we want. That's all that matters. _That_ is what we're going to remember for the rest of our lives. Not money. But you and all of us being together in moments like this night was supposed to be."

"I spend plenty of time with you. Don't know whatcha want from me," he mumbled.

And it wasn't the right thing to say and he knew that but he didn't know what else he could say. It wasn't as if he could tell Beth that she was wrong. She wasn't and he knew it. Beth was rarely wrong when it came to a lot of things and this was no exception. He _did_ work a lot and he worked hard but he would never consider those two bad things for a man to do; especially to do for his family.

Beth sighed softly then but she didn't say anything else. She turned towards her car and he kept standing there, watching her as she drove out of the parking lot. And Daryl stood there for a few minutes more until he heard a rumble of thunder off in the distance and it finally prompted him to go to his truck and start driving home, too.

…

The garage was open for half a day on Saturdays but it wasn't necessary for him to go in, having finished all of his work the day before and if it got too crazy, he knew Dale would call him. As he and Beth were in the kitchen, making their usual Saturday breakfast for the kids, he could feel her glancing at him every few minutes, as if waiting for him to tell her that he was going into work for a few hours. Daryl didn't say anything though except remind the kids that someone had to feed Kyle.

On Saturdays and Sundays, since they had the time for it, they had big breakfasts. This morning, they fried eggs and Beth cut up potatoes and made fried potatoes with bits of bacon tossed in. Neither of them talked as they cooked – though Daryl wasn't expecting them to have some huge conversation about it. They fought and when they did, they apologized and then moved on. He knew this one was his fault so he would have to apologize to her because he hated fighting with Beth. Whole damn thing just felt unnatural and he didn't know how other couples could do it. Rick had even said once that fighting with Lori was like foreplay for them and Daryl wished he hadn't had ears at the time so he didn't have to hear such a thing.

He knew people probably thought he and Beth fought a lot. They were just too different from one another to not have disagreements and he admitted that sometimes, he really didn't get why they didn't fight more either. And when they did fight, it always seemed to be about the same thing. Money. He knew he thought it too much and it could get him angry because he sometimes thought she didn't think about it as much as she should.

But she was right. Most of their relationship had been about Beth being right and he admitted that.

They did alright. They did better than alright. For the first time in his life – and their marriage – he was in a comfortable financial state. She had gotten a small raise at the daycare center and he had three different incomes coming in and they had a few more bills now but they weren't drowning. They were treading and that was the best place they had been at in years.

"Are we doing anything today?" Luke asked once they had all sat down at the table with plates of food in front of them.

"I don't think so," Beth shook her head as she poured Abby some orange juice. "Just laundry. You can help with that if you want," she then added with a smile.

Luke smirked a little. "Molly was wanting to hang out this afternoon."

"Is Molly your girlfriend now?" Hunter asked.

Luke just stared at him from across the table and Hunter grinned at him.

"What about us, dad?" Hunter looked at him. "We working on the car today?"

Daryl paused before giving his head a nod. "Maybe a little bit," he said and he dared a look at Beth, wondering if that would just piss her off further. But he wasn't getting _paid_ to work on that car. That car was his project with Hunter.

After breakfast was finished, the three kids carried their plates to the sink and helped clear the table and then left Daryl and Beth to clean up the rest.

He set his coffee cup down beside her as she stood at the sink and he looked at her but just as he opened his mouth to speak, Beth beat him to it.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, her eyes flying up to meet his.

Dayrl couldn't help but blink at her, having not been expecting that.

"I'm sorry for what I said last night. I never should have said that," she shook her head rapidly. "You take the best care of me and the kids and I shouldn't be angry or upset because you work. I'm grateful I'm married to a man who actually wants to work and not someone like…" she trailed off, trying to think of a way to finish that.

"Like Merle?" He couldn't help but smirk a little and he could tell that Beth was trying her hardest not to smile at that. "'m sorry, too," he then said in a lowered voice. "Not just 'bout last night though I'm real sorry about bein' so late for somethin' for your pops like that. But for workin' so much. Jus' wan' to give you and the kids everythin' I can, I suppose."

Beth's head was tilted up to look at him and she lifted her arms wrapping them around his neck and pushing herself up on her toes so her face was closer to his. And Daryl didn't hesitate in slipping his own arms around her, holding her close to him.

"I've already told you before, Daryl," Beth said in a soft voice, her eyes never leaving his.

She didn't tell him this time though but he didn't need her to because she was right. She had said it before. It seemed like every fight they had was about money and it was a statement that Beth said to him every time afterwards.

And he knew it was a true. He just tended to forget it sometimes. He was lucky enough to have a family who would rather have him more than anything else.

His hand went to the back of her head, cupping it, fingers in her hair, and he kissed her lightly. "Was thinkin' that maybe we have your folks over for dinner tonight. I can grill up some deer. We're gettin' plenty of green beans in the garden. The weather's nice enough for a cookout." As he kept talking, Beth's smile kept growing. He shrugged a shoulder. "Wanna make up for last night."

"That sounds perfect," she said, still smiling.

"Yeah," he nodded and his eyes darted down away from hers as if nervous. "Maybe it can be like one of those moments you were talkin' 'bout last night," he added in his gruff tone as if he was embarrassed from making the suggestion. His eyes lifted just enough to look at her again.

Beth didn't say anything to that but she didn't have to. Her smile and the brightness in her eyes were more words to Daryl than any she could actually say. And when he kissed her again, she was still smiling against his lips.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	20. Thunder

…

**Chapter Twenty. **Thunder.

Maggie and Glenn liked to babysit the Dixon kids. Daryl and Beth were always so worried that their three kids could be overwhelming and while they could be at times, Maggie and Glenn never minded. They said watching them was good practice for when they had their own children even though they had been married for almost six years now and they didn't seem to making a move towards having kids of their own yet. Maggie still had doubts, she supposed.

She liked it just being her and Glenn and watching her nephews and niece but giving them back to their parents in the morning. Beth had always been the more maternal one – even when they were kids. She liked that she and Glenn could do whatever they wanted without having to worry about having a child to look after. And they were more than used to getting a full night's sleep without being woken up.

When something shook her awake along with a frantic quiet "Aunt Maggie!", Maggie flew into a sitting position, instantly wide awake and her eyes flew to see that it was Hunter, which surprised her because usually, it was Abby coming into their room.

"What is it, sweetie?" Maggie asked, already pushing the covers off of her body as Glenn continued snoring next to her.

"It's Abby," he said in a whisper and he sounded scared which only made Maggie feel scared and her heart sped up.

Without asking anything, she hurried from the bed and rushed from the bedroom with Hunter on her heels. She crossed into the guest room where there were bunk beds for the boys and a single bed for Abby for when they came to stay the night and in the middle of the room, Luke was standing, holding Abby in his arms as the little girl wailed and cupped her hands around her ears. It was only then that Maggie realized there was a storm outside, rain pounding on the roof and thunder rumbling so strongly, it felt like the floor was actually shaking.

"What's wrong?" Maggie asked, crossing to them.

Luke was trying to shush her but that wasn't working as Abby was still crying.

"It's the storm. It's hurting her ears," Luke answered.

Maggie reached out and took the little girl into her own arms but Abby's crying didn't stop and if anything, she just seemed to be crying harder. It was her turn to try to shush her but after a moment, she already felt completely hopeless and looked to the two boys.

"Can't we take her hearing aids out?" She asked almost desperately.

Hunter shook his head. "We're not allowed and neither is Abby."

"Dad and mom want her to get used to noises," Luke added.

Maggie nodded because it made sense but at the same time, Abby was crying so hard, she was hiccupping and Maggie was getting a headache. This was just another reason why she couldn't be a mom yet. She had absolutely no idea what to do. It wasn't as if she could stop the storm raging outside and it seemed like that was the only thing that would help Abby right now.

Still without an idea as to what she was doing, Maggie carried Abby out of the room with Luke and Hunter following her. She took her into the kitchen and went right for the phone on the wall. It wasn't necessarily something she wanted to do and yet, she had never dealt with a hysterical child like this and this was beyond her realm of experience. She was her aunt. Not her mommy or daddy and maybe that was who Abby needed right now.

She handed Luke the receiver and dialed the number without even telling him what she was doing but Luke caught on quickly and stood there, listening to the phone rang. A loud crash of thunder shook right over the house right then and Abby all but screamed, clutching her ears.

"Dad, it's Abby and the storm," Luke said and a second later, he was hanging the phone up again. "They're coming," he told Maggie who caught herself before she could sigh with relief. She felt guilty for dragging her sister and brother-in-law out in the middle of the night in the middle of a storm like this but Maggie didn't know what to do short of ripping the hearing aids out of the little girl's ears.

Glenn shuffled into the kitchen then, yawning and scratching the back of his head. He saw Abby crying her eyes out. He saw Hunter looking quiet and worried – two things very uncharacteristic of the young boy. He saw Luke standing by the phone, looking at Abby, his face deep in thought as he tried to think of what to do. And he saw his wife, looking completely frazzled.

Without a word, Glenn came and took Abby into his arms and then went to the refrigerator, pulling out the carton of milk. He moved with one hand as he then pulled a saucepan from the cabinet and set it on the stove.

"Warm milk always used to calm me down a bit when I was a kid," Glenn explained to them all though no one had asked him to.

By the time he had poured three glasses of warm milk for the kids, they heard the pickup truck outside and Maggie rushed to the front door to unlock it. The instant Beth hurried into the kitchen and Abby saw her, Abby stretched her arms out for her and Beth plucked her from Glenn's arms into hers.

"Shhhh, it's alright, Abby," Beth began murmuring in her ear.

Abby tightened her arms around her neck and buried her face in Beth's hair.

"I'm sorry," Beth said to her softly. "We can't take them out though. We need you to hear the world around you and the world can be a loud place. The storm can't last forever though. Tomorrow, the sun will be shining and the birds will be singing and you'll be back home where you can have a tea party with Kyle."

"Here, baby girl," Daryl said in his low, gentle voice – his "hunter" voice as it was called by Beth – as he came to stand with them and held the glass of warm milk. "Uncle Glenn put this together for you."

Abby was no longer wailing now that Daryl and Beth were there. Just whimpering and her hands were still cupped over her ears. Daryl gently pulled her hands down and cupped them around the glass.

"Sip," he then told her and she sniffled but brought the glass to her lips.

"We didn't know what to do," Hunter spoke up. "We knew we couldn't take her aids out but she was freaking out."

"'s a'right," Daryl told him.

"She's lucky to have brothers like you," Beth gave them both gentle smiles. She then looked to Maggie. "I'm sorry about this."

Maggie was quick to shake her head. "There's nothing to apologize for. I just had absolutely no idea what to do and I guess I kind of freaked out, too."

Abby finished her milk and gave a small hiccup.

"What do you say to Uncle Glenn?" Daryl asked as he handed Glenn the empty glass.

"Thank you," she said barely above a whisper.

"Anytime," Glenn grinned at her.

There was another loud rumble to thunder and Daryl quickly took Abby from Beth's arms, holding her in his, all of them seeing the little girl's face screw up as a fresh round of tears flooded her eyes.

"Come 'ere. I'm gonna show you somethin'," he said.

There was a large picture window in the dining room that overlooked the back yard and Daryl carried Abby there now. Luke came to stand on one side of him and Hunter, drinking his glass of milk, came to stand on the other side of him.

"See out there?" Daryl asked, looking to Abby. "It looks dark and windy and scary, but 's nothin'. Just some water and rumbles. None of it can hurt you. Make you as wet as a dog but it can't hurt you. 'specially when you're inside like this."

Abby didn't say anything as she looked out the window, watching the wind blow the leaves in the trees and when the earth rumbled with thunder again, she put her arms around Daryl's neck and he held her a little tighter.

"'s a'right," he told her softly.

She turned her head and looked at him and she was a mini-Beth. The blonde hair and the pale skin and the big blue eyes and pale pink lips. But inside her blue eyes, he always saw him. Everyone said it. She was Beth on the outside but him on the inside and he looked at her now and gave her a small smile.

"'s a'right, Abby," he said again. "You know why?"

Abby shook her head.

"'cause I'm here and I'm not gonna let anythin' hurt you."

Abby squeezed her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly and Daryl hugged her tightly in return. He looked to Beth as she stood in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen and she looked to him and after a moment, she turned to Maggie.

"We're going to take the kids home for the night," Beth told her. "I think it will be better if she's in her own room," she then said in a lower voice.

Maggie nodded, disappointed and relieved at the same time. She loved having her nephews and niece over; loved when they spent the night and she and Glenn could stuff them with macaroni and cheese and brownies and they would watch movies and play board games and in the mornings, they made French toast or waffles and she loved them all to death. She thought her little sister had such a great family and Maggie loved them. She also thought that her little sister had the patience of a saint because whenever Luke, Hunter and Abby went back home to their parents, it usually took Maggie and Glenn two or three days to fully recover from the visit.

The boys gathered their things before thanking Aunt Maggie and Uncle Glenn for everything and Beth ran out to the truck with them, making sure they didn't get too soaked, and then Daryl followed with Abby, getting her to the backseat as quickly as he could. The ride home was quiet with Hunter falling back asleep and Abby still letting out small whimpers each time there was a rumble of thunder. Daryl drove home as fast as he could without breaking any actual speed limits.

When he pulled in front of the white farmhouse, Beth turned in the front seat and gently shook Hunter awake, telling him that they were home. And once the boys were in their beds and the house was locked up for the night, and Abby was already falling asleep in the middle of her parents' bed, Beth and Daryl lay down on either side of her, completely exhausted and feeling as if they had just run a marathon.

Beth looked at Abby as she drifted off and she gently stroked her hair back from her face, looking at the small hearing aids as she did. "Do you think we should take them out?" She asked softly, looking to Daryl.

"'s up to you," Daryl answered with a shrug.

That answer only made Beth's brow furrow though. "Why is it up to me?"

He turned his head on the pillow, looking at her and even in the darkness of the bedroom, he found her eyes immediately. "'cause I'm not good at this kind of stuff," he told her in a voice that let her know she should have known that already.

"Good at what kind of stuff? Making decisions that involve our kids? That's bullshit, Daryl, and you know it," she said to him with a frown.

He sighed and rolled onto his side, facing her. "We made a decision to make her wear her aids," he reminded her. "You wanted her to hear us. Hear you sing."

Beth nodded then and she felt her eyes water for some reason. She looked down to Abby, sleeping, no longer upset with the storm now that she was safe between her parents. Beth lowered her head and brushed her lips across Abby's temple before resuming stroking back her fine blonde hair.

"I do," she admitted in a whisper; as if it was selfish to want her daughter to hear – especially if hearing things could send her into hysterics.

"Jus' needs to get used to them," Daryl said as if reading her mind. He paused for a moment. "If it's possible for her to wear somethin' that can get her to hear, I wan' her to hear. I wan' her to hear the world 'round her. I wan' her to be safe and that means she's got to get used to the noise."

Beth smiled faintly, loving when Daryl said so much because he didn't do it often but when he did choose to speak so much at once, he always managed to say just the right thing. She looked into his eyes as he stared into hers and she nodded slightly.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," she replied in a soft voice.

…

The storm had passed by dawn and the world was wet and clean around them. The Dixons were all early risers and by six-thirty, Beth was in the kitchen, getting breakfast together for the boys. She turned her head from the refrigerator when she heard Daryl enter and Abby was in his arm, both of them dressed to obviously go into the woods. Jeans and boots and a sweatshirt for Abby and a flannel shirt for Daryl. His crossbow was already strapped to his back and he had pulled Abby's hair up in a ponytail.

"We're gonna go out in the woods for a bit," Daryl said to Beth what she already knew. "Maybe hunt somethin' down for dinner tonight."

Beth had a feeling she knew the reason as to why Daryl was taking Abby into the woods and she smiled at Daryl's idea. She stood on her toes and first kissed Abby on the cheek and then Daryl on the lips.

"Have fun with your daddy," Beth said to her and the little girl smiled in response.

The farmhouse was surrounded by woods on three sides – which was one of its main appeals – and walking out the backdoor, Daryl bent down and set Abby on her feet and together, the two crossed the backyard and headed into the woods. It was quiet around them. A few birds were chirping and a slight breeze was rustling through the green leaves of the trees.

They walked for a few minutes until they were deep within the woods and then Daryl stopped and crouched down in front of Abby. She looked at him and he gave her a small smile; an identical small smile she returned.

"You hear that?" He asked.

He could see a look of concentration pass over her face as she seemed to really try and listen. But when she didn't hear anything, her eyes went back to him.

"No," she said in her soft voice.

His lips twitched in another smile. "'s why I love bein' out here." He put a hand on her side. "You tell me anytime you wanna come out here. You gotta leave your aids in, Abby. The world is a place that makes noise and you gotta hear it. But you wanna come out here to get away from it, I'll bring you. Okay?"

Abby looked at him and then she smiled, it growing with each passing second, and she nodded her head quickly. Daryl smiled, too, loving to see her smile and then he leaned in, kissing her on the forehead.

"Le's go catch your mama a rabbit for dinner," Daryl said as he stood up, pulling his crossbow back into his arms.

Abby walked beside him, quietly just as he had taught her brothers before her, and when she spotted the particular way the leaves had fallen to the ground, she tugged on Daryl's sleeve, pointing and showing it to him, and when he saw, he smiled at her because she saw it before him and she smiled up at him because she knew she did.

Daryl crouched down to study the leaves closer and Abby mirrored him, crouching down beside him, looking at the leaves, too. Daryl saw her from the corner of his eye and he smiled a little to himself. When she was still a baby and they hadn't known she was deaf yet, he had thought she would make the best hunter out of the three kids. And now, he knew he had been right. She was going to be amazing at everything.

…

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	21. Bath

…

**Chapter Twenty-One.** Bath.

Most days, she made it look so easy because to Beth, most days, it _was_ easy.

She got up, got the kids up, fed them, got them ready for school, got them to school then went to work and took care of other kids all day before returning home with her own kids, feeding them dinner, helping them with homework, getting them ready for bed and tucking them in and doing it all over the next day.

Her life was very much repeat every day. And she liked it because she knew what to do and how to handle it all and things were a bit too hectic at times but she liked that. Most days. Most days, she was fine with running in a thousand different directions after three children and a husband and it made her happy and made things interesting and there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't love it all.

But some days, even if she loved it, it absolutely exhausted her. Some days, she woke up and got out of bed and already couldn't wait until she could get back in bed again. Some days, she was just so tired and felt so much older than just thirty-one. Some days, she felt like she was still a young girl, playing at being a grown up, and she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. Some days, she just wanted to run away and anytime she had that thought, she felt nothing but guilt because this was her family – her husband and her kids – and she loved them more than anything and she would never leave them. Sometimes though, some days, it all became just so overwhelming and she wondered if Daryl ever felt that. She was almost too afraid to ask though.

It was one of those days. One of those days where she was tired before it even began and she was quiet for most of it. And she knew Daryl picked up on it immediately. No one knew her better than Daryl and she could feel his eyes watching her, closely and silently, but she didn't indicate anything to him. When she was in one of these moods, she never wanted to tell him about it because Daryl had this way of taking something that was wrong with her and no matter what it was, he twisted it around so he was able to blame himself for it. He was always so quick to hold himself responsible for every possible wrong thing in their lives.

After dinner that night, filled with eager chatter from Hunter proudly listing all fifty states in preparation for a quiz he had the next day and Luke grumbling about how he hated his biology class and everything that had to do with science, the kids helped clear the table and Beth loaded the dishwasher and Daryl put away the leftovers and it was the same as it was nearly every other night.

She could feel Daryl looking at her but he wasn't asking her what was wrong and she wasn't going to offer the explanation to him. She loved Daryl; had been with him for so long now but sometimes, she just wanted to keep some things to herself without having to pour herself out to him every time she had something heavy on her mind. He was her husband but she was still allowed a couple of secrets kept to herself. And she knew it was selfish but if she told him about it, he would turn it around and make it all about him and she would be the one to comfort him and assure him and right now, she just wanted to wallow and be the one to feel sorry for herself.

She wondered if her mom had ever felt like this with her own husband and three kids. If some days, she just felt like standing in the middle of the room and screaming, letting it all out in one big rush of emotion. Even if she never had, Beth knew that Annette would understand more than any other person in her life and she would have to go talk to her about this. Because while these moods didn't happen often, Beth hated that they happened at all and she wanted to figure out how to get them to stop. This was the life she had chosen for herself and it was too late to go back and make different decisions for herself. She was happy – so happy – and she never had to remind herself of that except for the occasional day like this.

After getting the kids ready for bed and making sure they were falling asleep, and seeing that Daryl was still downstairs, Beth went into their bedroom and closed the door. Going into the bathroom, she plugged the drain in the claw foot bathtub and began filling it with warm water and bubbles. She stripped her clothes off and stepped into the tub, sinking down into the water and a soft exhaled breath of relief.

Hopefully, by tomorrow morning, this mood would have passed and she would be back to how she almost always was. It usually lasted no longer than a day.

Her eyes were closed but she heard the bedroom door open and then close again. She heard the familiar creak of one of the wooden floorboards and when she opened her eyes, she saw Daryl standing in the bathroom doorway, looking at her. She didn't say anything and she waited for him to ask her something but he never did.

Instead, he stepped into the bathroom and began pulling off his clothes, joining hers lying haphazardly on the floor. Beth gripped the edges of the tub and pulled herself forward and Daryl climbed in behind her, settling his back against the back of the tub and Beth sank backwards again, settling herself between his legs and her back against his chest. She closed her eyes again, her head resting against his shoulder and she felt his hands light on the outsides of her thighs.

"What's this smell?" He asked, referring to her small collection of scented bubbles.

Her lips twitched in a smile. "Vanilla cupcake," she said.

Daryl didn't say anything to that and the silence, once again, fell over them. It was comfortable between them as it always was but Beth knew that his mind was churning with questions. She could practically _hear_ him thinking but she wasn't going to open her mouth and offer and explanation. She wasn't ready to yet – not sure how to explain himself in a way which Daryl would be able to understand. She wasn't even sure she was able to explain it to herself.

Everything was quiet around them. The kids were asleep, and there didn't even seem to be a breeze blowing outside that night. The only sound was occasional creak as the old house settled around them. Leaning against Daryl's warm and hard body, surrounded by the warm water and sweet-smelling bubbles, Beth felt herself drifting off as if she was heading towards sleep.

"You're happy, right?" Daryl then asked the question she wasn't actually expecting him to and it brought her right back to that moment.

She hesitated for just a second. "I am," she said softly.

Daryl was quiet and she knew he probably wasn't completely believing her.

"I am," she said again, still softly but with a bit more sureness in her tone. "I just…" she trailed off then because she really didn't know how to say any of this; how to explain herself and everything that was rolling around in her mind. "I sometimes get like this. I wake up and look around and I have no idea how I got here."

He was silent but she knew he was listening to every word she said and rolling it around in his own mind.

She sighed softly. "I sometimes wish I was still twenty-one and it was just you and me in our tiny house in the woods."

The instant she said the words, she felt her stomach sinking as heavily as a stone sinking to the bottom of a pool of water. It wasn't right for her to think such things, let alone say them. She was a mom. She had three kids she loved more than anything else in this world and she couldn't say such selfish things. She wasn't twenty-one anymore and she never would be again.

She felt herself internally bracing for what Daryl's possible response to that would be, feeling nervous and unsure.

"Me, too," he grunted then in a soft voice.

She turned her head to look at his face, knowing her surprise was evident. He looked at her, too, and didn't say anything else.

"Really?" She asked in a whisper as if she was too afraid to speak louder.

He nodded and still didn't speak.

"I don't feel it all the time. It's just… some days, I wake up and can't really believe that I'm here. You know?" She tried her best to swallow the growing dryness in her throat. "I just… I don't know," she then whispered because she did and yet, she didn't. She didn't know how to say any of this without sounding like a terrible person and have Daryl feel like he ruined her life because she knew Daryl and she knew that he would definitely feel like that.

"I know what you mean," Daryl then said though and she lifted her eyes back up to him, hoping he would say more. He did. "Never saw myself gettin' married or havin' kids or any of this and I'll look 'round sometimes and wonder how the hell I got here," he admitted to her.

And Beth found herself exhaling softly because he got it. And not only did he get it but he thought the same things. She had had no idea that he had and she felt such a relief because maybe she wasn't as selfish as she was worried about being.

"Being with you is the best thing to ever happen to me but when I was younger, I always imagined myself standing up on a stage somewhere and performing. Not just at Gareth's twice a month but recording my own songs and going on small tours and… I feel terrible when I think about it," she then said in a whisper.

"Why?" He was frowning at her.

"Because…" she swallowed. "I'm a mom. I'm not supposed to think about things like that."

"You're allowed to think of how your life could 'ave gone. No one says you can't," Daryl said and she looked at him, unable to help but be a little amazed that he was saying these things to her. She hadn't been expecting his reaction to be like that. His eyes were settled on her. "Would you 'ave still married me if you could go back?" He then asked in a low, gruff voice.

"Yes," she answered without pause. "No matter how many times I think about how my life could have gone, marrying you is always the same." She paused again and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Am I a terrible person?" She whispered.

His brow furrowed. "'course you're not. You've always been the best person I've ever met. I just always assumed it was normal for a parent to wonder how it would 'ave been if they didn't have their kids. Don't make any of us terrible people."

Beth sighed softly and she felt herself relaxing – just a little though.

"What do you think about?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Wouldn't be doin' anythin' grand like tourin' the country. I'd still be livin' up in the woods and keepin' to myself and workin' at Dale's garage and that would be it. Wouldn't have kids or my own side business or any of the attention I got from fixin' this house up. Would be just you and me and that's it," Daryl said.

Beth relaxed completely against his chest now, turning her head so her forehead rested against the side of his throat. "I love you," she whispered.

"Love you, too," he answered back and she felt his hand on her back.

"We have such a good life," she continued in her soft voice. "And most days, I wouldn't change it for the world. We've made a good life for ourselves, Daryl Dixon."

His lips twitched a little at that. "Yeah, we've done a'right," he agreed. His hand slowly trailed over her arm and then his thumb slowly swept beneath the bracelets on her left wrist that she always wore, rubbing circles on the scar they covered. "You promised me you'd tell me if you got to feelin' sad like that," he reminded her.

Beth shook her head, looking into his eyes. "It's not like that," she said. "It's not really a sadness. It's… I don't know how to explain it. It's longing for something that I know is never going to happen and it makes me sad because it will never happen." She shook her head again. "But it just lasts for a day or so and by the next, I'm fine again."

Daryl kept staring at her, not saying anything, still rubbing circles over her scar.

"I just don't want to have any regrets," she whispered. "I don't want to be lying on my bed, fifty years from now, wishing I had done this or that and knowing that I just let my whole life pass me by."

Daryl shifted his back against the hard tub as if he was trying to get himself more comfortable. "A'right," he then said. "What do we have to do?" She must have looked confused because his hand left her wrist to circle his arm around her waist and he pulled her tighter against his chest. "What do we gotta do to make sure you aren't lyin' on your bed fifty years from now with regrets?" He asked.

"I don't know," she admitted with a slight shake of her head.

He was quiet for a moment as if thinking that over. "We'll figure it out," he then said.

Beth smiled faintly up at him and she didn't think it was possible. She never thought it was possible because she didn't know it was possible to love someone as much as she already loved Daryl. But it seemed like all of the time, he did something and she just fell deeper and deeper in love with him. Like now. Just when she thought she couldn't love him anymore, he did something that showed her that she could.

She pressed herself against him and closed her eyes, feeling his arms wrap around her and hold her close, and the melancholy feeling that had gripped her for most of the day was beginning to fade away. And even as the bubbles began to disappear and the water began to cool, neither made a move to pull themselves from the bath.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**

**Some have mentioned that I have focused on daddy Daryl with the kids so I'm going to write a chapter that shows Beth being an awesome mom with the kids. **

**And PS - I can't thank you enough for your continued support of this story/universe.**


	22. Sketch

**I have received many messages in regards to the second chapter of _Your Mess is Mine_ I posted yesterday. I wound up taking it down because I wasn't completely happy with it and I began thinking that it wasn't necessary. **

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**Chapter Twenty-Two. **Pad.

Luke knew Beth had been young when she became his guardian, young when she had Hunter and adopted him and then had Abby. And he knew that Beth was still young compared to most of the other moms. Young and pretty. A lot of the other boys in his class insisted on pointing out to him that he had the hottest mom and if Luke told them to shut up, they just laughed and said it even more.

He had talked to his dad about it and in turn, Daryl had talked to Beth about it. Luke wasn't exactly sure what he said to her but whatever it was, Beth stopped making appearances at the school. Luke hated it because Beth was a good mom – a mom involved with her kids and what they did at school – but she stopped being as involved with Luke. But it didn't matter because the boys kept it up and Luke knew he couldn't punch all of them in the face no matter how badly he wanted to. His parents didn't exactly look well upon their sons fighting and Luke never felt like getting grounded enough to punch all of those boys in their mouths.

In eighth grade, Luke joined the art club – not because he really wanted to but his art teacher, Ms. Chambler, and then his mom, kept telling him that he would love it and after he finally gave into their nagging, he realized that he did love it. They met after school and talked about art and Ms. Chambler showed them slides and movies and they went through art books and it was a two-hour art class he didn't want to end. They were also putting together a field trip to the art museum in Atlanta next month that Luke spent some of his lunch periods on the computer in the library, visiting the art museum's website, looking at the collections and exhibitions and counting down the days until they would be going.

The only problem with being in art club – not that it was really much of a problem – was that Beth came to pick him up every week and she came into the school to do it. She would come into the art room while the kids were cleaning up and she and Ms. Chambler would talk and laugh over things and Luke could feel the tips of his ears turning red, just imagining one of the other kids saying something. And he hated that he was so embarrassed by his mom because there was no reason to be. Those other kids just _wished_ they had Beth for a mom.

She was the best mom there was; the best mom Luke could ever ask for and he still had these mornings where he would wake up and lay in his bed for a few extra minutes, reminding himself that he was actually here. That his last name was actually Dixon and not still Ridgeway. That he had Daryl and Beth and not Mark and Valerie and he wondered why he still had these moments, even years later, when he had been with them so much longer than he had been without. He wondered if he would have mornings like that for the rest of his life.

And it just made him more pissed off at the boys in his class because he didn't want to be embarrassed by Beth. He didn't want her to not come around the school and not pick him up from art club and he didn't want to feel himself brace for when she came into the room, waiting for some offensive under-the-breath comment about her to be made by one of the others.

"Hey," she smiled at him as he came up to her, swinging his backpack onto his back.

Luke didn't say anything, suddenly very interested in how his shoes looked. He heard Beth say goodbye to Ms. Chambler and Ms. Chambler said goodbye to both of them before they turned and left the classroom. Only when they were in the empty hallway by themselves did Luke lift his head and look at her.

She was thirty-two and he was thirteen and she would have had to be nineteen if she was his birth mom and had actually had him. He had a drifting thought, wondering how old Valerie had been. Valerie had always seemed so old to him. All of the drugs and living such a hard life had aged her by years but not Beth. Beth looked as if she could still pass for nineteen.

"I said we would stop for some dinner on the way home. Your dad or me don't feel like cooking tonight," Beth said as they stepped from the school and began crossing the parking lot to where Beth had parked. "Do you have a taste for anything?"

"Not really," Luke replied. "We were learning about Claude Monet today and one of his favorite foods was stewed duck with roasted turnips."

Beth smiled at that. "You kids have never had duck before. Maybe your dad can hunt one this weekend," she suggested. "In the meantime, how about we go to the store and pick up some fried chicken?"

Luke smiled at her in return. "Yeah."

"Yeah," she echoed, her smile growing a bit bigger, and she put her arm around his shoulders, hugging him to her side.

And since they were outside of the school and no one was around, Luke let himself be hugged.

…

That Friday night, Daryl had hunted a duck the day before and now, after work, he sat on the back porch, plucking the feathers and dressing it. Beth had gone to their town's small grocery store but they hadn't had turnips so she bought a variety of vegetables – potatoes, carrots, parsnips and Brussels sprouts. They roasted everything and wound up eating outside that night at the table on their back deck that Daryl had just finished building onto the house the month before.

"Monet tried to kill himself by drowning in the Seine because his financial burdens were upsetting him so badly," Luke said.

"What is with artists always tryin' to kill 'emselves?" Daryl asked as he helped Abby cut her piece of duck. He then pointed his fork to Luke. "Don't you go and try to kill yourself," he then said.

Luke smirked. "I promise."

"How come artists kill themselves?" Hunter asked, his mouth full of potatoes. Beth gave him her stern look and he swallowed before smiling at her.

"Because people tend to not appreciate a lot of artists in their time," Beth said. "And many of them are so passionate about their craft, they feel underappreciated and that there's no point to it all."

"People are gonna appreciate Luke," Hunter then said with the utmost confidence.

"'course they are," Daryl agreed and Luke felt the tips of his ears turn red as he focused his eyes on his piece of duck in front of him.

After dinner, after everything was cleaned up, Luke went back outside with his sketchpad and found Beth and Daryl sitting on two of the lawn chairs, each with a can of beer and watching the sun slowly set in front of them. Beth smiled at Luke as he came to sit down on the step in front of them, also looking towards the sun.

"Thank you for dinner tonight," Luke said after a few minutes.

"Was nothin' to it," Daryl shrugged before taking a sip of beer.

"What should we do next? What was Rembrandt's favorite food?" Beth asked.

Luke smiled a little as he looked down to his sketchpad and didn't say anything.

He wondered about the boys he went to school with; if their moms would do something like this. He had met a lot of the other moms. Molly's mom was always so nice as was Mrs. Grimes and they seemed to be good moms to their kids. He knew Beth wasn't the only good mom in the world. He just sometimes thought that she was probably the best. She was so interested and supportive of everything. Him with his art. Hunter with his cars. And Abby wasn't really interested in anything yet except tea parties, playing with her dollhouse and watching Disney movies but Luke knew that whatever it was that Abby fell in love with, Beth would be right there, loving it, too.

He didn't really understand how Beth could do all she did and not get exhausted.

Luke reached into the pouch he kept his colored pencils in and took out the orange shade, looking to the sunset and beginning to sketch what he saw. He preferred drawing nature. He had tried people in the past but he had had trouble with noses. He could never seem to get the nose right. But with nature, he was able to sit there and take as long as he needed without having to worry about his subject needing to scratch or go to the bathroom.

He could hear Daryl and Beth talk quietly behind him. He didn't really listen. Sometimes, he would tune in, and hear Beth laughing about something that happened at the daycare center or hear Daryl grunting about work – either at the garage or in his woodshop.

"Dad!" Hunter suddenly shouted from inside.

"What?" Daryl called back.

"I cut myself but don't tell mom!"

Luke smirked to himself and kept sketching and Daryl stood up with a grunt, going to the house with Beth reminding him to clean it with the antiseptic first. There was a frog croaking nearby, hidden somewhere in the grass, and he wondered where Kyle was tonight because if that cat was anywhere near, that frog wouldn't be for long. He heard an owl hoot and the crickets chirp and the sun was almost gone now.

"We should go inside," Beth suggested.

Luke grabbed his pouch and his sketch pad and stood up, going to plop down in the lawn chair beside her that Daryl had been sitting in.

"What do you think?" He asked, holding the pad out to her.

Beth smiled, taking it from him. "It's beautiful. I always wonder where you get it from. I can hardly draw an orange," she said, still smiling, laughing a little.

And that was one thing Luke loved about Beth.

She talked like she had given birth to him; that she had helped in creating him and that everything he had and was, it came from either her or Daryl. There was never talk of Valerie or Mark or Ridgeway blood. There was only ever this. Being a part of the Dixon family and in Beth and Daryl's eyes, his life really didn't start until he was four-years-old and came to live with them. He didn't have a life before them and that was what Luke liked to think, too.

Luke watched her as she flipped through the other drawings he had in the pad.

"Did you always want to be a mom?" He asked her unexpectedly.

Beth smiled at the question. "I did," she nodded once and turned her head to look at him. "Maybe not as soon as it happened but I'm not sorry at all that it did happen."

Luke was quiet for a moment. "If you hadn't taken me home that day, do you think you and dad would have had a different life?"

"I don't think about it too much," Beth shook her head. "The day we took you home and the day we signed those papers, they were two of the best days of my life."

"Yeah, but still…" Luke kept pressing and he wasn't entirely sure why. And Beth was just looking at him, clearly waiting for him to continue and looking at him with curiosity, obviously not knowing why he was pressing, either. "What if I don't become an artist? What if I never make it? What if I wind up staying in this town and getting married and having kids and never going out and doing anything? Not that I think you and dad haven't done anything," he quickly amended and Beth smiled, laughing softly.

"Luke," she gently interrupted. "You can do anything you want to do – as long as it's what _you_ want to do. And as long as it makes you happy."

"What if killing people and chopping up their bodies makes me happy?" He asked.

"Except that," Beth shook her head and he grinned. She reached a hand out and brushed some of his hair back from his forehead. "You're only thirteen, Luke. You're way too young to be thinking about things like this. Right now, the things most on your mind should be school and your trip to the art museum next month."

Luke was quiet, thinking on that for a moment, his eyes dropping down to the pad she handed back to him. "About that… Ms. Chambler was saying we still need a chaperone to come with us… do you think you'd want to come with us?" He asked.

Beth was quiet for longer than he was expecting and Luke finally lifted his eyes to look at her. "Are you sure you want me to come with you? What about your dad?"

Luke shook his head. "No. I think you should come. The kids in my class, they're always going to say things about you. I can't punch everyone in the world."

Beth reached a hand out again and touched the side of his head. "Well, you could try but I would really frown upon it." She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "And I would love to go to the art museum with you. If you want me there, I'll be there," she smiled at him.

Luke found himself smiling, too. "I want you there."

And the smile Beth gave him then – a bright smile of happiness and relief – made Luke really wish that he was able to draw people.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	23. Anniversary

**I am very nervous about this chapter and Daryl seeming way too OOC but this was a popular request that several of you want to read so I hope you like it and that it isn't too terrible. **

**On another note, I'm very tired. I am writing this pairing constantly and doing my best to update my stories every day and I'm just feeling very tired and I have no idea why I push myself to update as much as I do. **

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**Chapter Twenty-Three. **Anniversary.

It started at dinner one night. Hunter was telling them about a project his teacher at school was going to have them do in class. His teacher wanted all of his students to do the history of their family – starting with their parents and grandparents.

"And she said we have to bring in pictures as visual aids," Hunter was saying over his plate of spaghetti. "Can I borrow some pictures of you and dad?" He asked.

"Of course you can," Beth smiled at him. "We don't have that many of when your dad was young like you but we have plenty from the past few years."

Daryl didn't say anything as he crunched on his piece of garlic bread. Beth was just saying it as nice as she could. He didn't have any pictures of when he was a kid. His mom had been too drunk to care too much about taking his picture and his old man sure as hell wasn't the kind to do something like that. He didn't have someone like Beth in his life when he was young. She was constantly taking pictures of their kids and each one had their own photo album, starting with when they were babies – except for Luke, who's album started when he was four.

"What about your wedding picture?" Hunter asked. "Mrs. Riley said that a wedding picture is always a good picture to have to show of your parents."

Daryl found himself stopping in mid-chew and his eyes floated to Beth, wondering how she would explain that one.

Beth's smile softened as she looked at Hunter. "Your dad and I never got a picture taken when we got married," she said as simply as possible.

"Huh?" Luke spoke up, his brow furrowed, and he sat up in his chair. "Why not?"

Beth shrugged. "Your dad and I eloped to Atlanta and it was just a quick ceremony. No one else was there who would take our picture," she said.

Daryl swallowed his piece of garlic bread, now tasting like sawdust as it slid down the back of his throat. He had never really thought about it before. No reason for him to. He and Beth got married and he had never imagined himself ever getting married before he met her so it wasn't like he had any sort of idea of how a wedding was supposed to be. He knew it wasn't usually like what he and Beth had done – running off to some chapel in Atlanta and getting married in under five minutes in jeans and a dinner in the Taco Bell parking lot afterwards.

"What's elope?" Hunter asked.

"It means they ran off and got married as quick as they could," Luke answered him, his brow still furrowed. "Why didn't you get married around here?" He asked.

Beth smiled faintly. "It's like you said. We wanted to get married as quick as we could and we didn't want to wait to plan a wedding," she said. Abby had gotten spaghetti sauce all over her mouth and Beth leaned over to wipe it with a napkin.

Daryl didn't say anything as he looked at Beth. She was back to looking at Hunter, smiling and laughing and telling him about how he had been at Aunt Maggie and Uncle Glenn's wedding because he had been too little and didn't remember it. Daryl was like Luke though. He was frowning, his brow furrowed, as he watched her.

Later, once the kids were tucked into their beds and they were getting themselves ready for bed, Daryl was still frowning. They stood side by side at the sink in the bathroom, Daryl brushing his teeth and Beth bent over, washing her face. When she straightened, patting her face with the towel, she looked at him in the mirror's reflection and his frown.

"What is it? You've been frowning for hours now," she pointed out to him.

He didn't answer. He leaned into the sink and spit out the toothpaste before swishing it out with water and spitting again. He stood and Beth wiped at his mouth with her towel, a playful smile on her face. He knew that smile quite well. that smile had been very good to him in the past but for once, he didn't find himself in the mood. He looked down at her as she looked up at him with her sparkling eyes.

"Daryl, what is it?" She asked again in a quieter voice now.

"Do you want a weddin' picture?" He asked.

She laughed slightly at his question. "It's a little late for that now, don't you think?" She teased but he picked up on that she didn't actually answer the question. She stepped closer into him then and her arms slipped around his waist. "You frown over the most ridiculous things. I've gone ten years without a wedding picture and I think I've done pretty well," she said.

Daryl grunted at that but didn't say anything, not really too sure what to say because she still hadn't answered the question of whether she _wanted_ a wedding picture or not. He may have been standing in that bathroom with her but his mind wasn't and when she pushed herself up on her toes and kissed his chin, he hardly felt it.

The next morning, they went about their morning routines and everyone got ready for the day and they saw Luke and Hunter onto the school bus and then Abby was buckled into her seat in the back of Beth's Subaru and he gave Abby a kiss on her head and a quick kiss on Beth's lips.

"Have a good day," Beth smiled at him.

"You, too," he said and watched as she drove out of their driveway.

Daryl went to his motorcycle – having decided the night before to ride it today as the weather was supposed to be nice and warm enough for it – but instead of driving straight to the auto garage for work, he instead headed in the direction of the farm. His in-laws were like him and were early risers so he wasn't surprised to find Hershel already standing on the porch as he had heard the roar of the bike nearing.

"Everything alright?" Hershel asked as Daryl climbed off his bike and headed towards him.

Daryl nodded. "Needed to talk with you and Annette 'bout somethin'," he said.

Hershel smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder and ushered him into the house.

…

Beth wasn't too sure what was going on. All she knew was that it was hers and Daryl's ten-year anniversary today and she was spending most of it with Maggie.

Her sister had come over that morning and had asked Beth to come shopping with her. She was looking for something to wear to a dinner she was going to with Glenn and his family and she was convinced her in-laws had always seen her as a slut. She wanted to get a dress they would deem appropriate.

Beth hadn't minded. She and Daryl really didn't do anything special on their anniversaries. They got someone to watch the kids in the evening and they would take a ride on his bike to nowhere in particular and eat a dinner and just enjoy the time to themselves with no one else around.

But she had thought that their ten-year would be a little bit different. She wasn't sure how. It was just something she thought. Ten years together was a big deal – at least in her mind. Ten years together and still married and she could hardly believe that it had been that long already. She thought of what they had gone through and all of the ways their lived had changed together and she found herself smiling to herself as she looked through the racks of dresses in the department store.

"What about this?" Maggie asked as she held up a white dress – a summer dress of lace that Beth immediately loved.

"It's beautiful," Beth smiled as she reached a hand out and touched.

"They don't have my size though. Just yours." Maggie pushed the dress to her. "You should try it on."

"Why?" Beth asked with a slight laugh. "I don't need it."

"It's your anniversary, Bethy," Maggie said as she still pushed the dress to her. "You should treat yourself. I bet you'll look beautiful."

Beth stared at the dress. It really was beautiful. And she really didn't need it. And yet, it _had_ been a while since she had bought something for herself. She didn't need it and yet, she stared at the dress and found herself really wanting it.

Maggie grinned widely when Beth took the dress and went into the dressing room.

After shopping and finding Maggie a dress, too, the two sisters stopped for a quick lunch before heading back home. As Beth pulled into the long dirt drive of the white farmhouse, she knew immediately that something was going on. There were cars parked in the grass and she pulled into her usual spot next to Daryl's pickup truck.

"What's going on?" Beth asked.

"I have no idea," Maggie answered but Beth knew that she was lying because she had answered too quickly and that was always a giveaway when Maggie was lying.

Daryl came out onto the front porch from inside and now Beth knew that something was definitely going on. Her husband was wearing a tie. A white button down shirt, black pants and a black tie. She got out of the car and looked at him, unable to help but frown a little as he came down the steps and approached her. The frown was from confusion though more than anything. She had no idea what was going on but her heart began to quicken because obviously, something was happening.

"Hey," Daryl said gruffly as he came to stand in front of her.

"I'm gonna go get changed," Maggie said, taking her shopping bag and heading towards the house. "And we found her the perfect dress, too," she added to Daryl.

"Thanks," Daryl said but his eyes didn't leave Beth.

"Daryl Dixon, what the hell is going on?" She asked him and he smirked a little.

"I figured we'd get married today," he said with a small shrug.

"We're already married," she pointed the obvious out to him.

"Yeah, well, I figure ten years later, we're due for another one."

"Another what?"

"Another weddin'. A good one this time."

"Daryl…" she said his name, everything that was going on now dawning on her all at once and she felt her heart flipping now in her chest. "I loved our wedding. You know that."

"Yeah, I know. But you deserve a weddin' picture and to have your pops walk you down the aisle," he said. She saw him visibly swallow then, clearly nervous. "You wanna marry me again?" He asked.

And Beth had no idea where they came from but suddenly, tears were in her eyes, splashing down her cheeks. "Yes," she laughed, her head bobbing up and down, and Daryl smiled then as if he had expected her to give him a different answer.

"You take as long as you want gettin' ready. We'll wait," he said.

Beth laughed then and she pushed herself up on her toes, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

In the house, she changed into the white lace dress and Maggie helped her with her hair, braiding it and pinning it up and Beth couldn't seem to stop smiling as she looked at herself in the mirror. Before leaving the room, she pulled on her brown cowboy boots and Maggie laughed, nodding with approval.

Outside in their backyard, she saw all of their friends there, sitting in lawn chairs with an aisle between them, leading to where Daryl stood with Father Gabriel from their church and Rick stood beside him. Everyone wore suits and dresses and her eyes scanned for the kids. They had been standing with Annette and Hershel but when they saw her step onto the back deck, they came running over. Luke and Hunter were dressed like Daryl and Abby was wearing a purple dress, her blonde hair braided and pinned up like Beth's.

"Hi, mom!" Hunter gleefully greeted her. "I'm the ring bearer and I need your ring."

"Alright," Beth laughed a little, feeling completely overwhelmed, having no idea when Daryl had done all of this; having no idea that he was thinking of doing this.

She twisted the band off her finger and handed it to him and Hunter tucked it safely into his pants pocket.

"And Abby's the flower girl. We're walking down the aisle together," Hunter added.

"You ready?" Annette asked her and even though Beth had been married for ten years and had three kids, she looked at her and felt tears in her eyes.

Beth didn't hesitate in nodding. "I'm ready."

"Here, Beth," Maggie suddenly handed her a bouquet of flowers – peonies, Beth's favorite. Maggie had a similar bouquet in her own hand and she bent down, handing a basket of flower petals to Abby. "Remember what to do?" She asked and the little girl nodded and smiled.

"I get to walk Grandma down the aisle," Luke then said, his chest a little puffed out as if proud of himself and Beth smiled, leaning in and kissing him on the head.

She stood on the back porch as somewhere, music began playing. A string orchestra song and she turned her head, finding Shawn and Rosita standing with his iPod and speakers and Shawn grinned when their eyes met.

Luke and Annette began walking down the aisle and then Hunter and Abby, Abby sprinkling the flower petals as she went. Maggie then gave Beth a quick wink and began walking down the aisle and then, it was just Hershel and Beth.

She looked up at her dad as she slipped her arm through his. "Is this really happening?" She asked and he chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "My head is spinning."

"That husband of yours has been a nervous wreck all morning," Hershel told her. "I think he wasn't sure if you would want to marry him again."

Beth smiled at that and she turned her head, looking at Daryl at the end of the aisle, still looking nervous even as he smiled at Hunter and Abby. She saw Hunter sitting beside Luke and Abby went to go sit down in Merle's lap. Even Merle was there – wearing jeans and a flannel shirt and for Merle, that was dressing up.

"You ready?" Hershel asked.

"Definitely," Beth didn't hesitate and Hershel smiled, patting her hand.

She honestly had never wished for anything more. She and Daryl had gotten married at some quickie chapel in Atlanta and then ate Taco Bell for dinner and it had all been so perfect. She hadn't needed anything more than knowing she was marrying him and in all of the years since, she hadn't thought of ever wishing for something different. She hadn't needed a dress or her dad walking her down the aisle or needing a reception with family and friends and food and dancing. Even when Maggie and Glenn had those things at their wedding, she hadn't felt any kind of sadness or longing for how her own wedding had gone.

But having her dad walk her down the aisle as she wore a dress of white and handing the flowers off to Maggie so she could hold both of Daryl's hands as he smiled a little at her and she beamed up at him, she realized that even if she hadn't thought she wanted any of this, she knew now that she definitely loved this wedding already as much as her first.

As Father Gabriel said his opening and then recited the vows, having them repeat after him, Daryl squeezed her hands a little tighter as he vowed to love her through sickness and health and Beth squeezed his hands a little tighter as she vowed to love him through richness and poorness.

Beth stood there and still felt her head spinning. She heard clicking and turning her head away from Daryl for just a moment, she saw that Noah was there, taking pictures of the ceremony, and she wanted to laugh. Daryl had invited everyone and thought of everything and she wondered when he had started planning this and how he had managed to do all of this with her having absolutely no idea.

Her attention snapped back just in time to hear Father Gabriel say, "… I now pronounce you husband and wife. Daryl, you may kiss the bride."

The cheers of everyone had already begun before Daryl had even stepped closer to her and she giggled and laughed and cried all at the same time as he lifted his hands to her face. He lowered his lips and she tilted her chin up and they kissed one another in a way that made Beth lean into him because she didn't trust her knees anymore. He dropped his arms and wrapped them around her waist and she circled her arms around his neck.

"My anniversary present is so stupid to you now," she whispered to him once their lips parted but their faces remained close.

"What'd 'ya get me?" He asked.

She blushed with embarrassment and shook her head and she could hear their family and friends still clapping around them.

"Lingerie," she said and wanted to bury her face in his chest because it was so stupid. He had just given her a wedding, for goodness sakes.

Daryl's arms tightened around her then. "You could 'ave told me that 'fore I planned for us to sit through a dinner with everyone," he said almost in a growl and Beth let out a laugh before pressing her lips to his in another kiss and the cheers rose louder.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	24. Date

**Author's note explaining this chapter at the end. Just please remember that this is _my_ opinion. I don't want to get flames from anyone about this character.**

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**Chapter Twenty-Four. **Date.

"Daryl and I would love to, Merle," Daryl heard Beth say to his older brother as he stepped into the kitchen from the backdoor where they both were, Merle leaning against one of the counters, his arms crossed over his chest, Beth stood at the island in the center of the kitchen, cutting potatoes and carrots and Luke was at the sink, washing out some of his paintbrushes under the running water.

Daryl looked to Beth and then to Merle before heading to the sink, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and sticking it under the tap for a few seconds before letting Luke resume his work. He turned and leaned against the counter beside him.

"How's the car?" Beth asked him.

"Think it might be time for a new one," Daryl answered, almost reluctantly.

Beth had had that Subaru for over ten years now and it seemed like every other weekend, he was working on it, fixing something else that wasn't functioning right. He didn't really want to buy a new car but when the time came that a person was putting more money into a car to keep it running, it was usually the time to throw in the towel and trade it for something else. And he didn't want Beth driving something that wasn't necessarily safe.

"What am I gonna love to do?" He finally asked, looking to Merle again.

Merle grinned at him and Daryl knew that whatever it was, he actually wouldn't love it at all and he frowned at Beth, wondering what the hell she had just volunteered him for. It was one thing to volunteer him before talking with him about building the stage props for Hunter's play at school but this involved Merle and Daryl could just imagine what it was. He doubted anything good.

Beth smiled at him though. "We're going on a double date with your brother and his new lady friend," she said.

Merle smirked at the term and kept looking to Daryl. "Met a girl at Joe's bar. Asked her out but she's not like the other girls I've gone out with. Not too sure how to go out to dinner with a girl like her. Beth offered to help."

Daryl didn't say anything; just stared at Beth.

And knowing that he wasn't exactly pleased, Beth put down the knife and came around the island, standing in front of him, her arms sliding around his waist.

"It'll be fun," she smiled up at him.

"Not exactly sure how it's gonna be," Daryl grunted.

"It will be," Beth insisted. "Besides, Merle needs us."

"Yeah, Darylina. I need you," Merle grinned at him and Daryl looked past Beth to his brother, watching him as Merle made a cracking whip motion with his hand. Daryl narrowed his eyes at him and then looked back down to Beth.

She was doing that thing she sometimes did. She wasn't being manipulative. Beth didn't have a manipulative bone in her body. But she was looking up at him with her big blue eyes – silently asking him and hoping he would say yes even though they both knew that he would. He wondered what it was in this world that he would be able to refuse her. It's not like he could get angry at Merle for the hand motion. He was a damn whipped man when it came to Beth and everyone knew it.

Including Beth.

And he didn't say anything now and just sipped at his water but Beth knew the answer and she stood on her toes, kissing him on the cheek. She went back to the island to resume cutting up the vegetables and Merle snagged one of the carrots, taking a loud crunching bite from it.

Daryl looked to Luke as he was now using one of his rags to dry the brushes.

"While your mom and me are out with your uncle, you think you old enough to handle your brother and sister?" Daryl asked him.

Luke's head whipped to him, clearly surprised. "Seriously?"

"Almost a freshman in high school now," Daryl said with a shrug. "Gettin' to be too old to have a babysitter watchin' over you."

"I can handle Abby," Luke quickly said with confidence. "And I can handle Hunter if I'm allowed to lock him down in the basement for the night."

Daryl smirked a little at that and took a sip of water. He looked to Merle. "If this girl isn' like the other girls, what was she doin' in Joe's then?" He asked.

Merle was still chewing on his carrot and shrugged his shoulders. "You know how girls get. Sometimes, they just need a lil' excitement in their lives. Don't understand how Beth's happy with your stick in the mud ass."

"I love his ass very much, thank you," Beth quipped back to him with a smile as sweet as sugar and Merle chuckled as Daryl felt the back of his neck heat up.

"Her name's Jessie and she's just separated from her husband," Merle added.

"So you're datin' a woman still married to her husband?" Daryl asked him dryly.

Typical Merle. And so far, this girl didn't sound that different than the other girls Merle had gone out with. Not that Merle actually went out with anyone. Hooked up was probably the better term to use and Merle's usual crowd hung out at Joe's – a dingy, dirty biker bar that not even the cops liked going to when they got a call. A girl didn't just go to Joe's for a drink.

"Got two kids, too. I think the oldest one's 'round Luke's age," Merle said. "She seems like she just needs a night out away from everythin'."

"You gonna marry her, Uncle Merle?" Luke asked, joking around with a grin.

Merle hooted with laughter. "Not even if they make polygamy legal."

"Well, I'm excited to meet her," Beth said, tossing all of the vegetables in a plastic baggy and then pouring in the olive oil. She then began shaking the bag in her hands, making sure all of the vegetables were coated before she spread them out on the baking sheet and sliding them into the oven. Roasting vegetables were the only way they were ever really able to get Hunter to eat his and Daryl admitted that he had gotten used to all of their vegetables being roasted and was starting to prefer them that way, too. "I'm definitely curious about her, that's for sure. I'd be curious about anyone you asked out to dinner."

"Where we goin'?" Daryl asked.

"Just for burgers somewhere. Nothin' fancy. Don't want to put any ideas in her head," Merle said, finishing his carrot and brushing his hands off.

Daryl smirked to himself. Still sounded a hell of a lot like Merle to him.

…

They went to the Terminus Tavern – not a fancy place but still a step up from some of the other restaurants in town – and by the time Daryl pulled the pickup truck into the parking lot of the restaurant, he recognized his brother's truck already there.

Inside, they saw Merle sitting at one of the tables with a blonde woman next to him – probably in her mid-thirties – and Daryl followed Beth as they made their way over.

"I'm sorry we're late," Beth said as way of a greeting. "We're letting Luke babysit for the first time and we had to go over everything with Hunter of what he can't do and Daryl had to show Luke how to use the fire extinguisher again."

Merle grinned at that as they sat down in their seats – Beth taking the other chair beside Jessie and Daryl sitting in the chair across from her.

"How old is your son?" Jessie asked with a smile.

"Luke is going to be thirteen in a couple of weeks and will be graduating from eighth grade. Abby's our youngest and she's five and Hunter is eight," Beth answered, also with a smile, usually smiling whenever someone asked about their kids. "And Merle mentioned that you had two yourself."

"Yes. Ron is twelve and Sam is ten," she said.

And as Jessie and Beth talked about the kids, laughing as they shared stories, Merle leaned in close to Daryl.

"What d'ya think?" He asked him in a lowered voice.

Daryl shrugged, glancing at the woman across from him before lowering his eyes back to the menu. He could note a lot about a person just with a look and he had instincts that he had learned to never ignore. They were usually never wrong.

With Jessie, he noticed that she was still wearing her wedding band on her finger – which wasn't the worst thing in the world but if she was separated and already dating men, why hadn't she taken it off? And if she had just separated from her husband, why the hell was she already going out with guys? Especially guys with Merle? No offense to his brother but it wasn't like Merle had money or looks. There was something in her eyes that Daryl saw that he just didn't like but he didn't say any of that because Merle would want him to explain and he wouldn't be able to.

The waitress came and took their drink orders and Beth ordered the mozzarella stick appetizer for the table to begin.

"How long have you two been married?" Jessie asked Beth.

"We just had our ten-year anniversary," Beth said and smiled at Daryl and his lips twitched at her in response before she looked back to Jessie. "What about you with your husband? Before you separated?"

"I got pregnant with Ron so that's why we got married. So twelve years," Jessie answered. "Pete used to beat me up," she then said and it was said so nonchalantly, Daryl found himself looking at her and not really believing her.

And in the pit of his stomach, he felt shitty for not believing her but he had a hard time. Most women had a hell of a time admitting something like that out loud. They didn't like to talk about it – especially to two people they just met – and most were embarrassed or ashamed of it happening, tending to blame themselves for it.

He glanced to Merle and saw if he thought the same thing but Merle was sipping his beer and didn't seem to be thinking of much of anything as he looked at Jessie.

Daryl frowned to himself as he continued studying his menu.

He remembered his and Merle's mom. The way she did her best to hide the bruises and didn't meet anyone's eye and Daryl remembered his grandma, she dying when he was eight, but before then, he remembered her coming to the house to talk to his mom but his mom would never admit that anything was going on. That the bruises came from her own clumsiness. She didn't just announce to everyone that her husband was using her as his own personal punching bag.

Maybe he was just reading too much into it though. Maybe Jessie had just come to terms with what her husband had done to her and was moving past it. Daryl couldn't sit there and presume to know her after looking at her for ten minutes.

The mozzarella sticks came out and the waitress went around the table, getting their orders, and Daryl didn't even really hear himself order the catfish dinner. Beth leaned over to him then and her arm was light on his arm.

"Are you alright?" She whispered in his ear.

"Yeah," he grunted in a rough, low voice and met her eyes. She just looked at him for a moment though, clearly not believing him, and for a moment, he hated that Beth was the one person in this world to know him better than anyone else.

He looked back to Jessie. She wore a loose tank top that exposed plenty of skin and Daryl found his eyes raking over all of it. He didn't know how long she had been separated from her husband but he saw absolutely nothing on her skin except a tattoo. No scars or bruises – fresh or fading. He saw nothing and he felt like a dick but he couldn't help it. He just didn't believe that Jessie had been a battered wife.

Beth and Merle were used to Daryl being practically mute and it seemed like Jessie understood that as well for very few questions were directed towards him. Daryl just sat and ate and listened to everyone else just like he always did. Jessie was a hair stylist and a part-time artist who had gone to art school and she laughed, explaining that she had wanted to go to Joe's that night to see if she got any inspiration for some new art. Now that she was away from Pete, she felt free to pursue as many art projects as she wanted.

She asked Beth about her job at the daycare center and making a promise to her that she would come to the coffee shop to hear her sing and then she began saying that there was so much that needed to be done around the house that Pete hadn't been able to do. When Merle volunteered Daryl, telling her that his baby brother would be more than happy to help her out, Daryl didn't hide his frown this time.

He honestly didn't want to be around this woman again. She gave off a vibe and he couldn't trust her and he had no idea how in the hell Merle didn't see it. Probably just saw Jessie as this pretty girl paying attention to him and it was getting in the way of Merle seeing through the bullshit.

Daryl was grateful when the check came and Merle made no arguments when Daryl paid for everyone's dinners.

"Well, thanks for this, you two. We're gonna head to Joe's for a nightcap," Merle said as he stood up.

"Yes, thank you so much and it was so nice to meet both of you," Jessie said, also standing up, smiling at them.

They all said their goodnights and goodbyes and once they left, Beth and Daryl sat down again. Daryl spotted their waitress and held up his beer bottle, signaling he wanted another one. He usually only had one while out – especially when driving – but tonight, he felt drained and exhausted and he needed a damn beer.

Beth sighed, sounding equally tired, and Daryl looked at her with surprise as she sat back in her seat, finishing the rest of her cherry coke through the red straw.

"I didn't really like her," Beth said rather suddenly and Daryl's eyebrows shot up at that. Except for a few people in the world, his wife pretty much liked everyone.

"You two were talkin' like best friends," Daryl pointed out to her.

The waitress came to their table with the beer. "Anything else for you two?" She asked as she began clearing away the dirty dishes.

"Hot fudge sundae," Beth promptly ordered. "Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, cherry and nuts."

The waitress smiled. "You got it."

Beth sighed again. "I was being polite, Daryl. I don't know what it is but she was making the back of my neck twitch."

And Daryl almost smiled at that because maybe Beth had been married to him for too long now and her instincts were beginning to take after his.

Beth looked at him. "What did you think?"

He shrugged and took a sip of his beer. "Didn' like her much either," he said but he didn't say anything more than that because his reasons for not liking her were purely speculation and had absolutely no proof. He'd keep it all to himself – even keep it from Beth. And he sure as hell would never mention it to Merle. Hopefully, Jessie wouldn't be around long and there would be no reason to ever mention it.

"I was so excited at the thought of Merle finally maybe starting to settle down a little. But… I don't know," she then laughed a little. "I was imagining showing up here and seeing that he was sitting with Carol."

"Carol?" He immediately pictured the receptionist at Dr. Stookey's office.

"Yeah, Carol," Beth laughed again. "I've always thought Carol and Merle would be good together. I don't know. Maybe one day…" she trailed off then as the hot fudge sundae arrived and was placed in front of her. "Do you think the house is still standing?" She then swiftly changed the subject, pushing the sundae so it sat between the both of them and she picked up her spoon.

Daryl picked up his own spoon. "If it ain't, I ain't buildin' it again," he said.

…

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**If you follow me on tumblr, you know already that I am not a fan of Jessie. At all. In fact, I have seriously been considering not watching S6 just because of her. And back when she first appeared on the show, there was this amazing long theory going around that SHE was the abuser and not the one being abused and I thought of how amazing and different that would have been if the show actually wrote it that way. But obviously, they didn't. This chapter was going to be different but it kind of just wrote itself and I like to think that Beth and Daryl are too smart to like actually like her. **

**Thank you so much for reading and please review! Not my best chapter but I guess I needed to get it out.**


	25. Guardian

**It's very hard to be on a writing schedule. I write whatever I feel like - whenever I feel like. And someone made a request for a chapter like this and I loved it so much and had to write it. If you have any suggestions for anything you want to read in this story, please let me know and I'll do my best to get my muse to cooperate.**

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…

**Chapter Twenty-Five**. Guardian.

"Hey," Beth said in a soft voice as she climbed onto the bed and sat on her knees.

Abby had fallen asleep next to Daryl as he had read to her from _Popular Mechanics_. He and Beth knew that reading to their kids was good for their development – or whatever, Daryl still wasn't entirely clear – but they also thought that reading to Abby would help her from being so sensitive to her hearing aids.

Daryl looked up from the article he was reading to look at her, letting her know that he was listening.

"I've been thinking about something," she said.

He closed the magazine and tossed it onto the nightstand. Whenever Beth said those particular words, he knew this wasn't going to just be some quick conversation.

"'bout what?" He asked.

"Well, Lori and I were talking at work and I don't even know what about but she mentioned that Rick's sister was Carl's and Judith's guardian if anything ever happened to her or Rick and then she asked me who would be in charge of the kids if something ever happened to us."

Daryl frowned a little. "Wha's happenin' to us?" He asked.

"Nothing, but it got me thinking that we don't even have a plan. What if we're out and we get in a car accident and neither of us make it. what would happen to the kids?" She asked him, watching him a little too closely and it made him almost want to shift as if uncomfortable because she was looking at him as if he already had the answer.

"Your parents would take 'em in," he answered with a shrug and thought that that was the right answer to give.

In his head, it made the most sense. Annette and Hershel were always watching the kids for them whenever Beth and Daryl needed them to and the kids loved their grandparents. When Daryl had been working on this house and they had already sold their house in the woods, Hershel and Annette opened their house up to them and let them stay with them for months. Hershel and Annette were always there. Art shows and recitals at school and he could just imagine the fit Annette would throw if he and Beth _didn't_ name them the guardians.

Beth shook her head, clearly not agreeing. "We can't do that. Their getting too old. We can't expect them to raise three more kids at their age."

"Well, not Merle," Daryl was back to frowning.

Merle had cleaned up his act but was far from living the kind of life Daryl would want his kids to know. Merle still drifted around whenever he felt like, not having his roots down anywhere, sometimes still getting arrested and being held overnight for stupid shit. No. Definitely not Merle.

"Maggie and Glenn?" Beth suggested.

It was Daryl's turn to shake his head. He couldn't really believe that they were having this conversation but as usual, Beth was right and it was something they had to decide and if she wanted to make the decision right now, he would take it seriously. The odds of their kids ever having to actually go to their guardian were slim but who the hell knew what was going to happen and he understood all about the whole be prepared aspect of life. Anything could happen and he didn't want his three kids to just be floating around without something stable and planned.

"Maybe Glenn but your sister gets too flustered too easily," he said.

Beth nodded. That couldn't be argued. Glenn was good with the kids. He had had little sisters and was used to being around little kids. Maggie, not so much. Even though she was the oldest of the three Greene siblings, she became too overwhelmed if too much was happening when she babysat her niece and nephews and with three kids, there was definitely always too much happening.

Beth knew Maggie loved Luke, Hunter and Abby but Beth couldn't do that to her. If Maggie and Glenn ever had a baby of their own, Maggie would probably lose her mind enough as it was without adding three more children.

She bit her lip for a moment, thinking of other options. "What about Shawn?"

Daryl looked at her, raising his eyebrows at her. "Shawn? He eats glue."

Beth rolled her eyes at him. "That was one time, he was drunk and Merle dared him to," she said. She shifted off of her knees and moved, propping herself up against the pillows beside Daryl, stretching her legs out in front of her. "He's great with the kids. He loves them to death and they love him. You know how serious he can be if he has to be and you have to admit. He has really grown up over the past few years. Think about how he was when you first met him."

Daryl did. He really liked his brother-in-law and not only was he family but Daryl considered Shawn a good friend. He could be a bit crazy and wild – though not nearly the same level as Merle. Shawn's crazy and wild was all pretty much harmless. He had moved to Atlanta years earlier and lived there and worked for some computer company that helped run some program for the Atlanta Airport. Daryl never understood exactly what Shawn did but whatever it was, Shawn made good money. And he had benefits and insurance and Beth was right. He loved the kids and the kids loved their uncle.

Daryl smirked a little to himself. "Shawn," he then said the name as if he couldn't believe it. "Shawn?" He then asked, looking to Beth, and she was smiling faintly, clearly having been thinking things over herself and coming to the same conclusion.

"I can't really think of anyone else. Yes, we have friends but I could never imagine them taking the kids in. I wouldn't want to push that responsibility on them. I would want them to stay with family," she said and Daryl nodded his head in agreement.

They were both quiet for a passing minute, both watching Abby as the little girl slept peacefully between them, having no idea what her parents were discussing.

"I don't like thinking about it," Beth said quietly as her fingers gently combed through Abby's matching blonde hair.

"Why would you?" Daryl asked, looking at her. "But you're right. Nothin' wrong with havin' a plan. Just in case. Though we won't have to worry 'bout it."

"No?" She looked at him then, too, and she looked somewhat amused, a ghost of a smile passing across her lips and a faint twinkling in her eyes, and seeing her like that made his own lips twitch in a smile.

"Nothin' wrong with havin' a plan to make sure the kids are taken care of. They would have just lost us. Wouldn' want anythin' else happenin' to them," he said.

And Beth's smile grew a little wider as she then leaned into him and kissed him lightly on the cheek near the corner of his mouth. Daryl looked at her and reminded himself that their young daughter was lying between them, sleeping, and he couldn't kiss Beth the way he wanted to in that moment. And Beth's eyes twinkled and she laughed softly as if she could read his mind and knowing Beth, she probably could.

…

Beth sometimes got in these moods where she had to clean. She didn't know what it was but she would spend her day cleaning the entire house. Vacuuming, dusting, mopping, making the house smell like lemon dust spray and cleaning bleach and she didn't stop until she was exhausted and the house absolutely sparkled.

Daryl had built them such a beautiful house and Beth supposed she just wanted to keep it beautiful.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She looked over her shoulder and saw that Shawn entered the house without her hearing and he stood there, watching as she stood carefully on the piano bench, trying to brush a spider web from the upper corner near the ceiling with a broom.

"I'm dancing, Shawn. What does it look like?" She rolled her eyes.

"Don't you have a husband to do stuff like this?" Shawn crossed the living room and took the broom from her. With no difficulty at all, he brushed the cobweb away and Beth stepped down from the piano bench, taking the broom back.

"You're the best," she smiled up at him. "Shawn!" She then exclaimed. "Shoes! Take your shoes off! I just cleaned all of these floors."

Shawn rolled his eyes this time and then went back to the front door, kicking his shoes off on the place mat they had there on the floor for all of the other shoes.

"Where is Daryl?" He asked, coming back into the living room.

"He had a couple of traps out in the woods he was going to go check. He'll be back in a little bit. And the kids are at the church. They're having their summer bible camp day today," Beth said as she began sweeping where Shawn had walked.

"Then why did you call and have me over?" Shawn asked, settling himself down on the couch. Beth looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Not that I mind coming," he quickly added. "I just thought that you wanted me to come over to watch the kids for you or something."

Beth shook her head. "No. Daryl and I have to talk with you about something."

Shawn's brow furrowed at that. "What's wrong?"

"Why do you automatically think something's wrong? Can't your sister and brother-in-law just talk with you?"

"Sure, on the phone like normal people. You wouldn't have me drive here over an hour from Atlanta just for a chat," he pointed out to her.

"Okay," Beth sighed. "It's a _little_ serious. But nothing for you to worry about. And I'm not going to say anything else until Daryl gets here. Do you want something to drink? I've made some fresh lemonade."

"What the hell time did you get up this morning?" Shawn asked, getting up and following her into the kitchen.

"Five like I always do," she shrugged. "I also baked cookies."

He smirked a little at that. "Of course you did. You know what my big accomplishment was today besides driving here? Putting on pants."

Beth smiled, grabbing a glass and going to the refrigerator for the pitcher of freshly-squeezed lemonade. "Well, we can't all live the life of leisure," she said.

"It's not an easy job but someone has to do it," he said as he grabbed three peanut butter cookies from the plate on the counter. "So, what's with Martha Stewart impersonation today?"

"I just get in these moods sometimes. Tomorrow, after church, I'm climbing back into bed and won't move for the rest of the day," she said, handing him the glass.

They both turned their heads when they heard steps on the back deck steps and then a moment later, the screen door opened and Daryl came into the kitchen. He looked to Shawn and Beth there.

"Hey," he grunted to Shawn.

"What's up, Daryl?" Shawn asked through a mouthful of cookie.

"Hey." Beth came to him and standing on her toes, gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Any luck with the traps?" She asked.

"Just a couple squirrels. Let 'em go," he said, taking a cookie for himself. "You talk to 'im yet?"

Beth shook her head. "I was waiting for you."

Shawn swallowed his mouthful of cookie. "Alright, you guys. What the hell is going on?" He asked but was sliding into a firm tone that was more like demanding.

"Let's go back into the living room," Beth said as she picked up the plate of cookies and began leaving the kitchen. "Daryl! Boots!" She called out over her shoulder.

In the living room, Shawn sat back down on the couch and Beth sat beside him, the plate of cookies on the coffee table, and Daryl sat in the armchair across from them.

"Tell me," Shawn said.

Beth looked to Daryl and then to Shawn, taking a deep breath. "Daryl and I have been talking about a few things. Now, _nothing_ is happening but we just want to be ready in the slight, slim chance that something does happen."

Shawn frowned, looking to Daryl. "What the hell is she talking about?"

"We wan' you to be the guardian to the kids," Daryl said bluntly and without any other sort of prelude.

Shawn's eyes widened slightly at that but he surprisingly wasn't able to say anything to that. He looked back to Beth, who nodded her head slightly.

"It's just something we've been talking about and it's good to have that sort of thing planned out – just in case. You know how Aunt Hattie was your guardian in case of something happening? And Otis and Patricia are my guardians? We never needed them but if something ever happened…" Beth looked at her brother closely, trying to gage his reaction to all of this but for once, Shawn seemed rather blank. "We were thinking of everyone we would want to have Luke, Hunter and Abby and you… you were the one person who made the most sense to us."

A minute ticked by as Shawn kept looking at her.

"Me?" He finally asked. "You two actually chose me?"

"Well… yes," Beth nodded. "Mom and daddy are too old and Merle is… Merle. And we both know that Maggie would lose all of her hair if she had to take care of three kids but you… you're just the best choice, Shawn."

Shawn was silent again, staring at her. Slowly, he turned his head and his eyes went to Daryl. Daryl didn't say anything either. He leaned forward and took another cookie before leaning back in the chair, taking a bite and looking to Shawn.

"You don't have to do it, of course," Beth was quick to add. "It can be a really big responsibility and Daryl and I don't want to think we're forcing you to do this."

Shawn just shook his head. "I know you're not. I just… me?" He asked again. "Are you guys sure about this? I mean, it's me."

"Of course you, Shawn," Beth said. "The more Daryl and I talked about it, the more it just made perfect sense."

"I live in Atlanta," Shawn pointed the obvious out to them.

"We know," Daryl gave his head a single head nod. "The house would be left to the kids. You could move in here or…"

"Daryl and I obviously won't be around so you would have to decide what's best. That's not up to us," she said. "We trust you," she then added.

Shawn fell silent again and Beth knew he was clearly overwhelmed with all of this. They heard a car approach the house, the faint scream of breaks and then four doors slamming shut. They could hear voices approaching and Beth got up to meet them at the door.

"Thank you so much for driving them home, Jacqui," Beth smiled at the woman as she opened the door for the kids to come in.

"Oh, it was no problem at all. They had me in stitches. Bye guys," she said with a wave, heading back down the porch and towards her car.

"Thank you!" They called after her.

"Shoes," Beth said before they could even take one step into the house. "I just cleaned this floor and I want it clean for at least twelve hours."

"So, mom," Hunter said as they all pulled off their shoes. "Noah's Ark. Two of every animal, right?"

"Right," Beth nodded, helping Abby with her shoes.

"What about everything in the ocean?" He asked.

"The world was being flooded, Hunter," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "The fish didn't need to be saved from drowning."

"Fine," Hunter spat at him with narrowed eyes and then looked back to Beth. "But what about when all the water went down. What happened if a shark got stuck on land when the water began disappearing?"

"I think God made sure that didn't happen," Beth smiled. "Your Uncle Shawn's here," she then told them.

"Uncle Shawn!"

There was a chorus of shouts as the three kids went running into the living, Luke and Hunter practically throwing themselves on Shawn, tackling him, as he still sat on the couch and Shawn laughed as he wrestled them back. Abby stood at the fringes of the chaos until Shawn had gotten the two boys under control and then looked at the little girl, giving her a wide smile, and she smiled in return before bounding over and hugging him tightly.

Beth smiled, watching them, Hunter now asking Shawn about Noah's Ark and what they did with all of those animals pooping on the boat and she could see Daryl watching her from the corner of the eye. Beth turned her head and looked at him and he smiled a little at her – a smile she happily returned.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	26. Competition

**I think this story is going to end with thirty chapters. **

**And I'm not sure what is going on with me lately. I don't know if sad is the right word but it's really the only word I can think of right now. I really am feeling so lost and sad and I have no idea what to write anymore for any of my stories and I don't know what to do to fix it. **

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…

**Chapter Twenty-Six. **Competition.

Beth didn't think anything of it when she called the garage for Daryl and a woman answered the phone.

"Thank you for calling Dale's Auto Service Garage. How may I help you?"

"I'm calling for Daryl. Is he able to talk?" Beth asked, snapping her fingers and giving Hunter a sharp frown just as he was about to reach for a pudding cup in the fridge. Hunter gave her an innocent grin and scampered away.

"I'll check. Who is calling?" The woman's voice asked.

"Beth, his wife," Beth answered.

She walked across the kitchen, stretching the cord as long as it could go, poking her head out and trying to look into the living room where she had left Luke lying on the couch. They had an old rotary phone on the wall in the kitchen and not for the first time, she reminded herself to get the phone a longer cord. It didn't stretch nearly long enough.

"Hey," Daryl grunted into the phone a minute later. "Everythin' a'right?" He asked.

"Luke's fever is only getting higher. I'm about to take him to the clinic," Beth said.

"I'm almost done here. Wan' to wait for me and I'll go with you?"

"You want to meet us there?" She asked. "Lori's over here right now and she's volunteered to stay with Hunter and Abby until we get back."

"I'll meet you there."

And though she hadn't been expecting him to come to the doctor's with her, she felt relief that he had made the offer.

She let out a soft breath. "See you there," she said and she then turned, hanging the phone up and ending the call.

Lori sat at the counter, a cup of coffee between her hands, and she gave Beth a smile. No matter how long she had been a mother or how old her children were, she still got a bit frazzled when one of them got sick. She understood perfectly how Beth was feeling right now – especially since Luke had gotten sick so suddenly the night before, it seeming to have come out of nowhere.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Lori. I know you didn't exactly plan on this," Beth said as she took her purse and looked inside, making sure she had everything. Lori had come just to buy some of their fresh eggs and had been pulled into babysitting two kids on Saturday afternoon for a few hours.

"Don't worry about it, Beth," Lori smiled at her. "We'll be just fine."

"Um," Beth scratched her forehead, her mind racing. "No pudding for Hunter. He's going to try and sneak one past you so keep a close eye on him. He knows he's getting ice cream tonight after dinner and he doesn't need that much sugar. And Abby… well, Abby is never a problem," she says and Lori smiles. "Thank you so much, Lori," she said again.

"Stop," Lori shook her head, standing up. "I'll help you get Luke to the car."

At thirteen, Luke had a sudden growth spurt and was about as tall as Beth now. She helped him to his feet and kept the blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he shuffled with her to the door in his socks and no shoes. Beth didn't stop him as they made their way from the house, down the steps and to the car in the driveway.

"Here, Beth," Lori said and Beth turned around, seeing her holding Luke's shoes.

"Thank you for everything," Beth said, taking the shoes and placing them in Luke's lap as he was already dozing again the front passenger seat. "I'll give you a call in a little bit to let you know what's going on."

"No rush," Lori shook her head and gave a smile and held her hand up in a wave as Beth started the car and drove down the driveway, heading towards town.

When she pulled into the parking lot of the walk-in health clinic, she saw Daryl's bike already parked and he was sitting on a bench outside, waiting for them. Before Beth could even unbuckle her seatbelt, Daryl was already opening the passenger door and helping Luke out.

"You didn't have to rush over here," Beth said once she had signed Luke in and they were sitting, waiting for his name to be called.

Daryl shrugged. "Said I was almost done. No reason for me to stay when I can just finish up anythin' else on Monday."

Beth gave him a small smile of thanks before looking to Luke beside her, brushing some of his hair off his sweaty forehead.

They waited for ten minutes before a nurse called them into the back and were shown into a small examination room. She took Luke's weight and height – asking him if he was going to play basketball at his height – blood pressure and finally, his temperature. The doctor came in another few minutes later and began his own examination, asking Luke and both Daryl and Beth questions about symptoms and when it all started.

"I think you've eaten something that hasn't agreed with you," the doctor said and then looked to Daryl. "You hunt your own meat, correct?"

"Careful 'bout it though. And we always make sure it's cooked all the way through before eatin' it," Daryl answered, his back straight, feeling as if maybe he had to defend himself and what he fed his family.

And Beth could sense it. "Luke's been eating fresh meat from the woods since he was four and this has never happened before and no one else in our family is sick and we all ate the same deer last night."

"Hmmmm," the doctor murmured as he peered down Luke's throat again. "Might just be one of those short stomach bugs. We'll give you some antibiotics and get it all cleared up for you. How does that sound?"

"Thank you," Luke croaked.

It was only after they got home and Luke got his first dose of medicine and was sleeping upstairs in his bed and they had thanked Lori again for her help and gave her more eggs than she had asked for, did Beth remember the earlier phone call.

"Who was that woman at the garage?" She asked.

"What woman?" Daryl frowned, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"The woman who answered the phone."

"Oh. Her. Dale's niece or somethin' like that. Hired her to answer the phones," Daryl explained and went back to drinking tea with Abby from her pink teaset as they sat on the floor.

Beth wasn't done though. "What's her name?" She asked and in the back of her mind, she wondered what she was doing. Why was she so interested in some random girl who answered the phones at the garage where her husband worked?

Daryl looked at her again. "Hillary or Haley. I don't know. Didn' even talk to her."

"Is she pretty?" Beth asked before she could stop herself and she nearly slapped her hand over her mouth. What on earth was she doing?

Daryl lifted his eyes to her again and he was close to smirking, clearly thinking the same thing she was. Beth stood there and commended herself for being able to keep looking at him even though she felt a flush rise up her face.

They both knew she wasn't like this. Neither of them really were. There had been brief moments of jealousy throughout the years that they had been together but those had all been fleeting and they both knew it was always so pointless to get jealous over anyone of the opposite sex when it came to their partner. They had been together for so long now, had three kids and everyone knew they were together and nothing was going to come between them. There was never any reason to get jealous. It was just a waste of energy.

Beth told herself all of these things and yet, she couldn't help herself. At the time, she had barely paid attention to it because she had been so distracted with Luke and taking care of him but now, time later, she recalled Hillary or Haley on the phone and she had sounded young and pretty and now, Beth was curious.

Daryl wasn't the sort to notice things like that. There had been one time when Miss Georgia had been driving through their little town and her car had broken down and had gotten it towed to Dale's Garage. All of the guys had been tripping over themselves to try and help her but Daryl hadn't even known who she was and instead, muttered about how it wasn't that damn hard to get an oil change when the car was over five hundred miles, due for one.

Daryl just never seemed interested in women and it was such a surprise when he had noticed Beth and allowed himself to be pursued by her. Beth knew she was the only woman Daryl had ever noticed and asking him about some woman at the garage was so stupid and yet, she couldn't seem to get herself to stop thinking about it. It didn't matter how old she was or how long she had been married to Daryl. Maybe it was something a person never was too old for.

Stupid jealousy, she frowned to herself.

"Don't even know what color her hair is," Daryl answered and he still looked on the verge of smirking at her, obviously so damn amused by this.

"Shut up," Beth narrowed her eyes at him and she heard him chuckle as she turned and left the living room, heading upstairs to check on Luke.

…

She knew there was no reason for her to be there and she told herself that she was just being stupid and ridiculous and she was going to hate herself if she went through with this. But telling herself any of that didn't stop her and she walked up to the front office of the auto garage, the bay doors closed against the brisk fall air but she heard the noise of tools from within.

Beth stepped inside and her eyes instantly fell on the woman standing behind the counter where Dale usually stood. She was young but not as young as Beth had been hoping. Probably around twenty-two or twenty-three with long dark brown hair with dark red highlights going through it and bright green eyes. She had a tan that was slightly unnatural looking and had Beth thinking she went to a tanning bed but for the most part, she was a pretty young woman.

Damn it.

"Hi, may I help you?" The woman smiled.

"Hi," Beth remembered herself and smiled, too. "I'm Beth Dixon."

"Oh! Daryl's wife. I'm Hattie," she kept smiling.

Beth wanted to shake her head at just how unobservant Daryl was around the opposite sex and she told herself for the countless time that coming here and "scoping" out the woman in her husband's workplace was just so stupid.

"It's nice to meet you, Hattie," Beth said, stepping to the counter and shaking her hand. "Are you working here from now on?"

"Yep. My uncle is Dale and he gave me the job. I used to live in Montgomery but I just had a nasty breakup and had to get away from there for a while," Hattie explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Beth said, genuine.

"Don't be," Hattie shook her head. "My ex-girlfriend is a terrible person."

Ex… girlfriend. Now, Beth just wanted to drop her head down and hide from herself. Why had she ever come here? To scope out the female close to Daryl's workspace? She wasn't a jealous or possessive person by nature and when she _did_ decide to be that kind of person, she got that way over a lesbian. Fantastic. Pathetic.

"How's your son?" Hattie asked. "Daryl rushed out of here on Saturday but I overheard him tell Dale what was going on. Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's feeling much better now, thank you," Beth smiled. "Just one of those bugs. I took the day off from work to be with him just in case though."

"Good," Hattie said with a head nod. "I'm assuming you're here for Daryl. Let me go get him," she said and Beth stood, watching as Hattie stepped back from the counter and turned, heading back into the garage.

The shirt she was wearing had no back and Beth saw the large detailed tattoo of a dragon that covered the entire expanse of Hattie's back.

Beth wished she could just turn and leave without having to see Daryl. He would take one look at her and know why she was there. They had been married for over ten years now but apparently, Beth still had to scope out women in case she thought they were competition when it came to her husband. Just thinking it to herself, Beth hated herself a little.

"Hey."

Beth lifted her eyes and saw Daryl step into the front office, wiping his hands on the rag he always kept in his back pocket.

"Wha's goin' on?" He asked but Beth could see the twinkle in his eyes and she knew that he knew exactly why he was there.

Without a word, Beth turned and left the office, heading back outside, and Daryl followed her. He came to stand in front of her and without a word, Beth exhaled a deep breath and then leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his chest. She didn't see his face but she knew that he was smiling and he lifted a hand, resting it on the back of her neck.

"I'm so pathetic," she mumbled.

"No, you ain't," Daryl said, quick to disagree in his low tone. "I kind of like it."

Beth lifted her head at that and tilted her chin up so she could look to his face. "You like me acting like this over a woman who won't ever have any interest in you or any man for that matter?"

His lips twisted in a smirk. "Yeah. I like it. Makes me feel important."

Beth sighed and shook her head. "I'm an idiot."

Daryl didn't argue that and kept looking at her, smiling a little. His fingers were still curled around the back of her neck and he pulled on her gently so she stepped into him, her body pressed to his.

"We both know I'd be doin' the same thing if the daycare hired some new guy to work there," Daryl said, looking into her face.

Beth let out a soft sight and didn't say anything but slid her arms around his waist.

"How's Luke?" Daryl asked.

"At home, sleeping, not able to witness his mom making a fool of herself," she said.

Daryl didn't say anything to that. He just leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"I guess it's just because you didn't even mention there was a woman working here. She picked up the phone and I didn't know you guys had a receptionist now and I let myself overreact. _A lot_."

"I didn' say anythin' 'cause I didn' think it was that important. Just some girl answerin' phones." He shrugged and Beth nodded because he was absolutely right. It wasn't important at all.

Beth raised herself on her toes and kissed him on the lips. "Pizza for dinner okay with you tonight?" She asked.

"Sounds good," he nodded and then dipped his head down so they could kiss again. He looked at her. "We good?" He asked her.

Beth nodded. "We're always good. Still hate myself a little but of course we're good. There's no reason for us not to be. You married an idiot."

Daryl smirked and shook his head. "Nothin' wrong with you. Like I said. I like it. And I've been an idiot plenty of times since we've gotten married."

That made her smile. "Well, I suppose that's true. And that's a good thing. Us idiots need to stick together."

He smirked again at that and lowered his head so they could have one more kiss.

"I need to get home to Luke," she said and he nodded though both of them seemed reluctant to part ways just yet. "Your brother hasn't been around for a while. I think I'll try and track him down and invite him to dinner, too."

"If you do that, I'm gonna wan' to invite Haley," Daryl said.

"Hattie," she corrected him and couldn't believe that she would ever think Daryl would notice another woman around him. "Why?"

He smirked, almost giving an actual smile. "Somethin' hilarious to me imaginin' my brother tryin' to flirt with a lesbian all night."

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review. **


	27. Camp

**Thank you so much for all of your messages and reviews in regards to my last author's note. It means so much to me to know that so many of you care about me even though we've never met. My sister passed away in March and somedays, it hits me so much worse than other days. Yesterday was just a really bad day. **

**Some of you have been asking and I will be working on the update of _Anything We Want _next. **

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…

**Chapter Twenty-Seven. **Camp.

Daryl was always an early riser but camping out in the woods, he woke even earlier, his eyes fluttering open before the sun could even peak above the horizon; when the sky was still just turning a lighter shade of gray from the blackness of night.

The birds were already chirping away and he laid there, listening to their morning song and hearing no other song except the quiet breathings of his family near. He turned his head and saw them all still sleeping in various spots and positions in the tent. When he went camping, he didn't bring a tent with him, having no problem sleeping on the open ground with the stars overhead. But he wasn't alone this time and with a wife and three kids, they had a tent and sleeping bags and this time, it felt like an actual camping trip and just not going into the woods for a couple of days.

He sat up slowly and silently, not wanting to disturb any of them, and inched himself out of the sleeping bag, careful not to wake Beth beside him. She only murmured something and turned away from him, rolling onto her side and Abby who slept beside her. Daryl grabbed his crossbow from where he had set it the night before and stepping over Luke, who had taken the spot in front of the front flap, Daryl carefully stepped out of the tent, zipping the flap back up.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the chilly fall morning air, and gave his neck a quick crack. He picked a tree far enough from where they had set up camp and peed before coming back. The fire had died down during the night and Daryl worked to bring it back to life again. Beth had packed eggs with her so they cook eggs and toast bread over the fire that morning for breakfast after stuffing themselves with hot dogs and s'mores the night before for dinner.

He hadn't done this in a long time – spending the night in the woods. After getting married, he saw no reason to stay away from his house and his bed for even a night. And then the kids started coming and he saw even less of a reason to sleep in the woods. When they had first gotten together, Beth had asked him more than once if they could go camping but he never took her for some reason. Deep down, he knew it was because he didn't want her to sleep on the ground with him. Deep down, he knew he had convinced himself that she didn't belong on a dirty ground.

But Abby turned five and for her birthday, she wanted to go camping and if that's what she wanted to do, the family knew that that's what they would do.

They had all packed their packs and Daryl made a short list of what they would need – he was never one to bring too much when going in the woods and he wanted his family to be the same – and besides the tent, sleeping bags and food, they didn't have much else because in Daryl's opinion, they didn't need it. If the world was going to end tomorrow, he wanted his family to be able to survive.

He heard rustling in the tent and he looked over his shoulder to see Beth coming out a moment later. She was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt and for the weekend, she had pulled both hers and Abby's hair into two braided pigtails. Her eyes fell on Daryl and she gave him a tired smile. She was holding a roll of toilet paper in her hand – she had told him that she would have at least one luxury in the woods – and Daryl watched as she went to go pick out her own tree to go to the bathroom behind. When she came back, she sat down beside him and reached into the pouch of her sweatshirt and took out a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Daryl found himself smirking a little. "Gettin' dirty in the woods is half the fun."

Beth shook her head and finished rubbing her hands together. "There's a difference between being dirty and being just plain unsanitary." And then, without giving him time to argue, she reached over and took his hands, squirting a dollop of sanitizer in his palm. Daryl didn't argue as he rubbed his hands together.

The fire was popping and cracking as it ate at the wood Daryl had fed to it and Beth let out a soft sigh of contentment and hugged her knees to her chest as Daryl poked at some of the dead leaves he had thrown onto the fire as well with a stick, making sure that the flames had plenty to eat.

"I see why you like coming out here all of the time," she said, her head tilted upwards as she looked at the canopy of fall leaves above them. "It's so quiet. I feel like we're the only ones left in the world. Do you miss living in the woods?" She asked, tilting her head forward and looking at him.

Daryl shrugged, settling himself back beside her. "Sometimes. That house was the first place I ever had that I could call my own. Was all mine. And then you came 'round and made it even better."

Beth smiled faintly at that, pulling her knees away from her chest and folding her legs in front of her. The smile though faded after a moment. "I'm sorry we're not able to live in the woods like that anymore."

He looked at her with a small smile pulling at his lips. "Ain't like we're not surrounded by the woods on all sides. Just a few steps outside our door," he told her.

"After we had gotten married and I had moved in, I was so scared at night when you were working late or had gone hunting and hadn't come back yet and I was all alone. I had never been in the woods like that before and it was so _quiet_," Beth admitted, her cheeks stained a light pink as if embarrassed.

Daryl looked amused by it though. "That why you leaped into my arms every time I got back?" He asked with a smirk. She giggled softly and nodded. "Damn, this whole time, I thought you were just that happy to see me." She laughed a bit louder and playfully bumped him in the side with her arm and he smiled that little smile of his, putting his arm around her and pulling her in close to him.

They heard movement in the tent and both looked to see which kid was waking up. It was Abby, yawning and rubbing one of her eyes still sleepily.

"Good morning, birthday girl," Beth smiled at her and Abby smiled tiredly before coming to where they sat at the fire.

Without saying anything, Beth gently pulled Abby down into her lap and Abby settled herself down as Beth hugged her and Daryl leaned over, kissing her head.

"You sleep a'right?" Daryl asked her, looking right at her so she could see his lips because even though she could hear with her aids in, it was still important she keep practicing her lip reading, too.

Abby frowned a little. "Hunter kicks."

"Well, when Hunter wakes up, you can kick him back," Daryl said, making her smile.

Beth smiled at her, too. "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" She asked and Abby nodded. "Come on. We'll go pick out a tree," Beth said as they both stood up and taking Abby's hand, she led the little girl away from their campsite.

Luke and Hunter woke up soon after that and when Beth and Abby returned to the fire, Beth rubbing sanitizer on Abby's hands, they were all toasting their bread over the flames.

"Here, Abs. Happy birthday," Luke smiled at her, handing her the first piece of finished toast and Abby smiled, taking it happily and sitting down between him and Hunter.

"Look, mom," Hunter said, handing a small cooler to Beth. "None broke."

"Good job, Hunter," Beth smiled and Hunter beamed, proud of himself.

She and Daryl had learned that with all of Hunter's extra energy, it helped to reign him in a bit by giving him one task at a time to focus on – whether that be cleaning shock plugs in a car's engine or being in charge of carrying the eggs for the breakfast during their camping weekend and making sure that none of them broke.

Beth had even brought a small frying pan with her, hooked on her pack, and they cooked the eggs over the fire, eating them on their toast.

"Dad, would we stay here if the world ended?" Hunter asked him.

"Sure," Daryl gave his head a nod before taking a swig of water from his bottle, not even thinking about it.

"Would we be alright?" Luke then asked.

"Don't see why not," Daryl shrugged. "We got shelter," he glanced over his shoulder back at the tent. "We got water in that stream right there, and plenty of game in these woods for us to eat. We'd head home to get your mom's vegetables and some of the chickens and other supplies and we'd be good."

"Why can't I go?" Hunter frowned as if the world truly had ended and this was really a plan they were going to follow through on.

"'Cause I need someone here to look after your mom and sister while your brother and me are gone," Daryl said.

"Yeah, I could do that," Hunter said, sitting up a little straighter.

Beth just smiled as she sipped at her water. It wasn't as if they truly believed the world would end. They weren't one of those doomsday people she saw on television with a bunker and food stored to last for ten years. But it was something the boys liked to imagine for some reason – as if they wanted to be prepared. Just in case.

"What else, dad?" Luke asked.

Daryl looked at the three kids, staring at him expectedly. He then looked at Beth and she smiled at him as if she was waiting for more of the plan, too.

He rubbed the hairs on his chin. "A'right. We'd need protection. You kids know how to hunt and track but you'd need to learn more."

"Like guns?" Hunter's eyes seemed to gleam at that.

"If we could get our hands on some, yeah. You kids need to know how to shoot," Daryl said. "What do you think's gonna end the world?" He then asked them.

"Plague!" Luke and Hunter exclaimed at the same time.

"Then you have to figure that the people who didn't get sick and die are pretty desperate to keep survivin'. We need to keep our camp and family safe," Daryl continued and all three of the kids seemed to lean in closer to hear more.

"We could make noise alarms," Beth spoke up and they all looked at her. "Cans on strings and tie them up around our camp so we could hear if someone tried to sneak up on us," she explained and she blushed as Daryl smiled proudly at her.

"Yeah! And a lookout!" Hunter's voice was growing with his excitement.

"A platform," Luke continued his brother's thought. "Up there!" He pointed to a nearby tree. "We could build it, dad, and always have someone on watch."

"And holes!" Hunter added. "We dig holes so people fall into them if they're sneaking up on us at night."

Daryl just kept smiling a little at all of them as Luke and Hunter continued going back and forth, shooting out idea of how to protect their camp.

"Where did you even learn about that?" Beth interrupted when she heard Hunter shout out "Napalm!"

"Uncle Merle," Hunter and Luke answered at the same time and Beth just shook her head, not even really wanting to know why her brother-in-law was talking about napalm with the kids.

"And what about you, Ms. Abby?" Beth asked. "What would you want to do if the world ended and we had to live here?"

"Kyle would be here, too?" The little girl asked.

""Course he would be," Daryl said. "Can't have a family camp without 'im."

Abby smiled brightly at that. "I'd just want Kyle," she said.

"He'll be so happy to see you when we get home this afternoon," Beth said.

Oddly enough, when they had all been leaving the day before for the woods, they had just assumed that Kyle would be coming with them but the cat instead had stayed behind, watching from the back deck and not moving to follow. When Hunter had asked why Kyle wouldn't come, Beth just shrugged and said that Kyle was an outdoor cat and used to doing what he wanted and going where he wanted.

"And we'll have cake, too, Abs," Hunter said with the gleam returning in his eyes at just the idea. "Grandma made your favorite and she's bringing it over tonight after dinner," he said and Abby smiled, too, at that, imagining the strawberry cake with buttercream frosting that was waiting for them.

"And in the meantime…" Beth stood up then with a smile and went into the tent, returning a moment later with a box wrapped in white wrapping paper with pink hearts on it.

Abby let out a gasp as if she hadn't been expecting a present today in addition to the camping trip and the cake and Beth laughed softly as she came to sit back down and handed it to her.

"Happy birthday, baby," Beth smiled.

Whenever handed a present, Hunter ripped at the paper immediately as if a crazed animal who smelled food beneath but Luke and Abby always took their time, tearing at the paper gently as if apologetic for having to rip it all.

Daryl and Beth weren't big on presents. When they had first gotten married and started their family, they didn't have money to spend on presents and they didn't want their kids getting used to receiving huge amounts on Christmas or their birthday. Even now, with a bit more money in their pockets, Christmas was still a small affair and birthdays were even smaller. To Beth, it was never about presents. It was so much more about the day and being with family and in her mind, today, Abby would always remember camping more than any other present given to her.

Abby pulled the paper away and then lifted the lid of the box. She gasped again and lifted the softest stuffed brown bear she had ever felt. It had black eyes and a green bow tied around its' neck and Abby instantly hugged it tightly to her chest. She then got up and hugged Beth and then Daryl without a word, never loosening the bear.

"Thank you," she then said quietly.

"Happy birthday, Abby," Daryl smiled faintly at her and she hugged him again.

"What are we doing now?" Hunter asked as Beth collected the box and paper.

"Now, that we're done with breakfast, we're going to brush our teeth and clean up a bit before you going hunting with your dad," Beth told him and Hunter frowned.

"But mom," he instantly began to whine. "The world just ended. I still have to brush my teeth?" He asked even as he and Luke rose to their feet and all three kids followed her to the tent to collect their toothbrushes and the tube of toothpaste Beth had insisted they all pack.

Daryl remained sitting by the fire, drinking more water and crunching on the last piece of toast. He looked over his shoulder when he heard steps and saw that it was Abby, the teddy bear in the crook of her arm and her other hand holding her toothbrush, moving it in her mouth. He smiled a little at her and she smiled through her toothpaste and came, plopping down next to him.

Daryl didn't say anything and kept eating as Abby kept brushing, both blocking out the sound of Hunter still whining from inside the tent and Luke telling him to just shut up and Beth telling them both to start brushing their teeth and instead, they sat there and listened to the birds chirping in the trees.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review! Just three more chapters.**


	28. Baby

…

**Chapter Twenty-Eight.** Baby.

"She is so beautiful, Maggie," Beth said quietly as she looked at her sleeping niece in Maggie's arms as they sat on the couch in the living room.

"She is, isn't she?" Maggie smiled proudly as she looked down at her newborn daughter. Her complete surprise of a daughter.

She and Glenn had talked about having children but they had never actually agreed on it and certainly hadn't been trying but one month, Maggie realized she was pregnant and a few months after that, Margaret Kimberly Rhee was born. Maggie hadn't been sure about naming their baby after her but Glenn said that if people could do it for their sons, they could do it for their daughters, too, and the baby already looked like a Margaret.

A few days in this new world and the name had already been shortened to Meg.

"I never got why you wanted this, to be honest," Maggie said, lifting her eyes and turning her head to Beth. "I always thought you were maybe crazy. Giving up so much of your life and being as young as you were when you had Hunter… and you and Daryl were always worried about money and working all of the time…" Maggie trailed off and Beth gave her a soft smile. "But I get it now," Maggie said quietly and her eyes dropped down to Meg. She had trouble looking away from her for too long.

Beth kept smiling as she watched her sister and her niece. She knew Maggie had been happy for her every time she had gotten pregnant but she also knew that Maggie was silently asking her, "Is this what you really want?" And even though Beth had her own moments where she stopped and thought of how her life could have been, she knew Maggie thought that about her far more often. Beth knew Maggie looked at her and wondered if she was truly happy being married and having kids and staying in their small town when she could have gone off and performed her music. She knew that sometimes, Maggie just didn't get it.

When she married Daryl, it had been such a strain on the sisters and it led them to not talking with one another for over a year. But eventually, Maggie swallowed her pride and apologized and admitted that Daryl Dixon was a good man. And now, it was hard to believe that she had ever hated her brother-in-law the way their relationship was now with one another. She had even said in passing more than once that she wished Glenn could do half of the things Daryl could.

But even happy for her sister and her marriage and for as much as she loved her nephews and niece, Beth knew that Maggie still looked at Beth sometimes and wondered what the hell she was doing. It seemed as if Maggie always forgot that the two sisters were two very different people.

Hearing the back door open, Beth stood up and went towards the kitchen to remind them to be a bit quieter than they usually were. Daryl and Glenn and the three kids had gone out into the woods and when Beth came into the kitchen, she saw that Daryl was telling them all to take off their shoes in a hushed voice and all of the kids were being quiet as they took off their shoes and left them on the mat on the floor next to the door.

"Hey," Beth smiled at them. "Get anything good?"

"Is Meg awake?" Hunter asked eagerly.

"Not yet," Beth shook her head. "And don't wake her either!" She called out after him a quiet voice as he raced from the kitchen to go see his cousin and Glenn was on his heels, eager to see his wife and daughter after being gone for nearly an hour.

Hunter had been so excited to get a cousin. Merle didn't have any children and neither did Shawn and he had a brother and a sister but he wanted a cousin, too. Beth would tell stories of herself when she was a young girl, growing up with her siblings and cousins and how much fun they had had together and even though he had wanted his cousin to be a boy, it didn't matter in the end. Hunter was just happy that he finally had one and he couldn't wait already until Meg was a little older.

"Look, mom," Luke said, holding up Daryl's flannel shirt that he had taken off, and setting it on the counter and spreading it open, Beth saw that they had picked what had to be over two pounds of blackberries. She also saw the blackberry juice stained on Abby's chin. "Dad said you could bake a pie with these."

Beth looked at Daryl with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile. "Oh, he did, did he?" She asked with a slight laugh in her voice. "Well, we'll see what I can do." She went to the sink and wet a dishtowel before kneeling down in front of Abby, cleaning away the blackberries she had clearly already eaten in the woods. She looked up to Daryl. "What do you think about having another one?" She asked.

Daryl smirked, going to the sink for a glass of water. "Was startin' to wonder when you would ask me that."

She stood up and Abby left the kitchen, scampering off to look at her new cousin, too, and Beth and Daryl were left alone in the kitchen. Beth came to the sink where Daryl still stood and she washed off the dishtowel, looking at him. Daryl leaned against the counter, looking at her, too, as he drained the water from the glass.

"Is four kids really _that_ crazy?" She then wondered.

"Yeah," he answered with hesitation. He set the now empty glass down on the counter and exhaled a quiet breath. "Beth…" he said her name softly but nothing was said past that and Beth knew already the words he was thinking.

"Three _is_ enough," she agreed. "And for the first time since we got married, we're in a comfortable spot. Having a fourth _would_ strain that," she said every thought he had in his head and he watched her, not moving a muscle. "We have a good life and it fits three kids. What would we do with four? It would send everything into upheaval and we would adjust, of course, and we would make it because we _always_ make it, but, four kids is a lot and four changes everything and we don't need four kids."

Daryl just kept looking at her and Beth stood there, looking at him, silently asking him with her eyes to say something to everything she just had.

"I don't wan' another kid," Daryl said, staring straight into her eyes as he did.

"Me, neither," Beth shook her head. "I just… I think about it sometimes."

"Why?" He asked and he was watching her so closely, Beth almost wanted to shift under the scrutiny.

Beth shrugged as if she didn't know but Daryl kept looking at her and he knew that she knew exactly why but for some reason, she didn't want to say it. He just stood there and waited and she sighed softly. "The kids are getting older and one of these days, I'm going to blink and they won't need me anymore."

It took a moment for her words to register in his mind and then he shook his head as if it would help the words settle more quickly but even after that they did, he still had no idea what the hell she was talking about.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Daryl couldn't help but frown.

She looked embarrassed now – as if she hadn't meant to actually say that out loud. Daryl looked at her and he wondered, too, why she had said that and he began wondering if it was something he should have already known about her. But that was the thing with Beth. No matter how long they had been together and no matter how much they had gone through together, this girl of his liked to keep him guessing. He knew that she would always be keeping him on his toes.

"What about me?" He then asked and Beth's eyes flew back to him. "You forgot about me," he pointed out to her.

"You?" She echoed.

"The guy you're married to," he said, his lips almost wanting to twitch in a smile and it looked as if Beth wanted to smile, too, but she kept looking at him, clearly not understanding what he was getting at. "Those kids are idiots if they grow up and think they don't need their mama anymore and I don't know 'bout you but I wasn' thinkin' we were raisin' idiots. How many times a week does your brother call your mama?" Daryl asked her.

"That's different," Beth argued weakly and Daryl smirked because he knew it wasn't.

"'s that really why you wan' another baby?" Daryl asked, looking at her closely.

Beth exhaled a soft sigh. "Seeing Maggie and Meg… just makes me miss holding a baby of our own. I'm being silly."

Daryl thought maybe a little but he wasn't going to tell her that. Instead, he dropped his arms from having them folded across his chest and he reached out for her, one of his fingers hooking through the belt loop on her jeans and pulling her closer to him. Beth stood with her body pressed to his but her head pulled back so she could look into his face.

"I know I can always hold Kyle," she said and Daryl smirked again. "Can I hold you?"

"You better," he said in a low voice and she laughed softly and blushed and she moved into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and his arms wound around her waist, holding her close.

"Beth!" Maggie suddenly called from the living room. "Meg had an accident and I can't tell if this is pee or poo on me! I need you! Glenn, stop it!"

Daryl snickered in her hair and Beth let out a quiet groan.

His hands squeezed her hips and he turned his head so his lips could rest at the corner of her jaw. And Beth hugged him tightly for another moment and when she did slip away from him, she seemed to do so reluctantly. She gave him a small smile and he watched her closely because no one could read Beth better than him and he had to make sure that everything she had just said was what she really felt. Because if it wasn't, if she really did want another kid, Maggie could take care of Meg on her own because he would keep Beth in that kitchen so they could talk this out.

But Beth looked at him and gave him a smile. It was small but it was genuine and he squeezed her hips one more time.

"I'll get Maggie and Meg cleaned up and then I guess I'm baking a pie?" She teased.

Daryl just smiled and she pushed herself on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips.

…

They had people over that afternoon for Sunday dinner for a full house. Hershel and Annette, Shawn and Rosita – still dating, much to Annette's delight – Merle, the Grimes family, Caesar Martinez and his family, Dale and Hattie, Carol – newly, and finally, divorced from her husband, and Sophia, Luke's best friend, Molly, and Sasha in from Savannah.

Daryl had killed a couple of chickens and Luke and Hunter had helped him clean them and they had roasted them all afternoon and Beth and Abby had picked fresh vegetables from the garden and there were two blackberry pies for dessert.

This time, Daryl didn't complain about the dinner party or having so many people in the house at once. They sat at the dining room table with the kitchen table pulled out to add to the length of it so there was room for everyone to sit. Daryl sat with Abby on his lap, listening as everyone talked around them, all conversations over-lapping, creating some sort of constant buzz in the air. Abby leaned back against his chest as he held the plate of pie and they shared the piece between the two of them.

Beth sat beside him and she nudged his leg with hers underneath the table. Daryl looked at her and she casually tilted her head to the side, towards the end of the table. Daryl looked and saw Merle and Carol sitting next to one another, Carol saying something to Merle and Merle laughing in that loud, boisterous way of his. Daryl smirked and Beth smiled, watching them for another moment before turning her attention back to the conversation with Lori and Glenn.

Daryl didn't know how long everyone stayed. For once, he wasn't looking at the clock and wishing to kick everyone out again. Everyone was all there to see the new baby and for some reason, they liked coming over to their house and there was something deep in Daryl's gut that actually liked having them there. He liked that he lived in a house where everyone liked being at. He couldn't really believe that he liked that.

There was a big game of _Monopoly _being played on the floor with the kids. Luke, Hunter, Molly, Sophia, Judith, Caesar's two children, and even Carl though he had said minutes before it began that he was too old to play a board game. Abby sat with Luke and would move his top hat for him every time it was his turn to roll the dice. The adults were sitting around, drinking coffee, continuing their conversations from dinner and Daryl sat with Rick, only listening to the man with one ear as he watched the kids with one eye and watched Beth with the other.

She sat with Maggie and held Meg in her arms, smiling and making silly faces to the baby, and then as if knowing that he was watching her, Beth lifted her eyes and looked at him from across the room and smiled at him. He smiled a little at her in return and kept watching her as she held her niece and laughed with her sister.

Daryl had to admit.

Beth looked really good with a baby in her arms.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	29. Find

**As you know, this story was originally meant to be thirty chapters but I think the story reached a good stopping point in the last chapter and the story felt like maybe it was time to end. Thank you so much to all of those who have read this story and who have loved it and supported it. I hope you enjoy this last chapter!**

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**Chapter Twenty-Nine.** Find.

"You ready to go?" He asked her in a quiet voice even though they were the only ones around.

Beth, standing in the kitchen, nodded as she gulped down the rest of her coffee. She set the mug down in the sink to wash later and then went to the couch, tugging on her boots and quickly pulling her hair up in a ponytail.

Daryl stepped to the side so she could leave the house first and he followed, closing the door behind them, making sure it was locked.

"Alright," she smiled at him brightly. "Where to?"

He couldn't help but snicker a little. "Don't know why you're so excited. Not like we're doing anythin' glamorous."

"You're wrong, Daryl Dixon," she shook her head, still beaming up at him. "I can't think of anything better than going hunting with you."

He smirked and shook his head. He didn't know what to say to her about all of this. She had asked if she could go hunting with him when he went on Saturday morning and Daryl had had no reason to tell her no. He liked the idea of her coming hunting with him. They had been married for a month now and he supposed he was still getting used to walking into the house and having someone else there; someone who was always so damn happy to see him and someone who wanted to spend time with him. But he knew that it was all definitely something he wanted to get used to.

"We'll head this way," he said, cocking his head to the west, the crossbow resting at ease in his arms, and they set off together.

He had shown Beth how to use it but she wasn't nearly strong enough to load it herself. He was thinking about buying her a crossbow that would be easier to use by someone her size but they didn't have the money right now for something like that so right now, he held the crossbow and she walked beside him, humming softly to herself even as she walked in the quiet way he had showed her.

He smiled a little to himself as he listened to her while his eyes kept a sharp lookout for anything they could be tracking. "What is that?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Oh," Beth looked at him and then laughed a little, her cheeks pink as if she hadn't realized that he was able to hear her. "Just a new song I'm in the middle of writing. About us," she then added, throwing him a smile.

"Mmmm," he hummed more to himself than to her.

"Mmmm," she teased him, stepping closer to him and grasping his hand for a second between both of hers. And he looked at her and smiled because she was in such a good mood that morning and Beth's moods – he had learned long ago – were infectious and whatever she was feeling, he usually wound up feeling that way, too.

She let go of his hand a minute later and he almost told her that she didn't have to though he supposed he would need both hands if they were actually going to be hunting. He caught the trail of a deer – buck from the look of the scratch marks on a couple passing trees, rubbing his antlers on the bark – and Beth stood by, silently watching him as he studied the ground and the tracks with sharp, quick eyes. The deep freezer he had at the back of the house was running a little low on meat and he wanted to catch this deer so he and Beth would be set for a while. It wasn't as if they were starving. But still, he liked to be prepared in case something happened and there was nothing wrong with having a freezer full of meat.

Beth was nearly as silent as he was now, as if she knew how important this was to him, and she followed behind him as he followed the buck's tracks. He would occasionally look over his shoulder to make sure she was still there and she would give him a smile, a twinkle in her eyes, assuring him that she was definitely still here and Daryl wanted to shake his head at himself because where else would she be?

The ground began to slope downwards as they began heading down the hill and he paused in his steps, waiting for Beth until she was beside him and they could walk down together, Daryl keeping one eye on the tracks still in front of them and the other on his wife beside him, making sure she was making it down alright. It wasn't a steep drop at all but he still wanted to make sure that she didn't trip. Beth, sometimes, could be a bit clumsy.

"I've never been this way before," she said to him in a soft voice, mirroring his own hunter voice he used while in the woods.

Daryl nodded. "Gettin' kind of far from our house. Really no reason for you to be out this way," he answered.

"It's clearing up ahead," Beth noted as the trees began to thin out and they could both see the light brighter.

Daryl nodded again. "Opens into somethin' of a field. We'll see if we can follow the buck's tracks through the grass. Prob'ly went into the woods on the other side."

Beth nodded her head and followed him through the trees, stepping from the woods into the nearly waist-high grass. She turned her head and placed her hand above her eyes to shield them from the glaring sun.

"Oh, I know where we are," she said once she laid eyes upon the delapitated old farmhouse. It had been standing there for her entire life and long before that, too. She knew someone owned it but she didn't know why they just didn't tear it down. She couldn't imagine anyone able to fix it up to being something livable again. She looked to Daryl who was now crouching down, studying the grass. "I wonder why they just don't tear the house down," she said, looking back to the house.

Daryl stood up and looked past her to the house, too. "Prob'ly some historical house or somethin'. Against the law to tear things like that down."

"I bet it was an amzing house in its heyday," Beth said. "A big Southern farmhouse like that. Probably had parties all of the time." She looked to Daryl and smiled. "We should throw a party."

Daryl just snorted at that and didn't say anything as he shook his head.

Beth giggled slightly and stepped to him, slipping her arms around his waist.

He looked down at her. "Wanna take a closer look?" He asked.

"No way." She refused so quickly and shook her head so fiercely, Daryl couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "It looks like a thousand people were murdered in there."

He snickered at that and his hand lifted to the back of her neck, lowering his lips to hers in a kiss, and Beth eagerly pressed her lips back to his. Even after being together all of this time, and now being married, he still rarely iniated kisses between them and whenever he did, Beth was more than happy to reciprocate.

"Come on," Daryl pulled his lips back and gave her hip a squeeze. "We gotta deer we gotta get back to trackin'."

"Right behind you," she beamed up at him and Daryl couldn't help but lean back down for one more short kiss.

He then turned and began heading across the field towards the woods on the other side and as promised, Beth followed behind. But she found herself walking at a slow pace and for some reason, she found her eyes lingering on the house in the distance.

Right now, the house was dirty, dark and quite possibly haunted but Beth looked at it and could actually imagine just how beautiful it had once looked and thought of how sad it was that someone had let it fall into such dispair.

She looked forward and saw that Daryl was standing at the edge of the woods, waiting for her, looking at her with a quizical expression and Beth hurried to catch up to him. She gave him a smile and when he stepped into the woods, she followed.

She cast only one more look over her shoulder at the house and she found herself hoping that someone would someday buy that house and make it beautiful again.

…

**The End.**

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review one last time!**


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